Open Air

Exhibit Info + catalogue

Open Air

October 11th-November 29th, 2019
Opening Reception: October 18th, 2019 5-7pm
Two-person exhibit of works by David Gordinier and Kristin Stoeffler

This show brings together the work of artists who illustrate a particular style of moments in Midwest scenery. Both artists appear to have romantic or idealized renderings of these realistic vistas. The space between the sky and the earth is vast. Land reaches out to the endless horizon and the foliage seem to breathe the air that chase the clouds in that moment. Adventure and solace can be found in these paintings; the hunt for the cloud you could cut with a knife, the well-traveled path highlighted by the afternoon sun, or the colorful field within soft rolling terrain. The works themselves vary from the very large punchy style of Kristin’s and the mid-sized detailed serenity of David’s.

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When talking about her work, Kristin mentions “My father-in-law put a bright yellow parasol on an old Oliver tractor and taught me how to rake hay, and I paint hay differently now.” She creates paintings that allude to surreal drama and heightened saturation. “The fields look different from the seat of a tractor. Rows look different after you’ve raked them yourself,” she explains. David approaches his subjects in a traditional manner, painting in a realistic style that concentrates on the way light defines an object or space. His landscape works are inspired by western vistas as well as secluded roads and wide-reaching fields of rural central Iowa. “If I live to be 120, I still won’t have time to paint all the things I want to paint.” David describes his process as “finding opulent things in the mundane.”

David Gordinier attended Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids and received his BFA from the University of Iowa in Iowa City. He has been in group exhibitions at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City and the Des Moines Art Center. His work is in the collections of Farm Bureau Financial Services and Iowa State Bank, among many others.

Kristin Stoeffler received her BA in Art from The University of Iowa, but that is only part of the education that influences her work. The rest she learned from the insight and patience of the people who live on the land in her landscapes. She has work in the Lil Drugstore collection in Cedar Rapids as well as several private collections in the Midwest.