MARSHALL — Last March artist Bonnie Van Moorlehem had a conversation with fellow Minneotan Bill Holm about Minnesota’s landscape.
She said Holm lifted his arms to point out the landscape at the time, dirty snow, brown mud and gray sky and asked “You think this is pretty?”
Van Moorlehem let the author know that while on her walk, she had just seen a pretty pattern of bark on a tree.
“This conversation made me realize I either look at the landscape differently or it is a survival skill for me to endure our landscape,” Van Moorlehem said.
Van Moorlehem’s exhibit “An Abstract View of the Minnesota Landscape” will be on display from Tuesday until Feb. 23 at the Marshall Area Fine Arts Center. An artist reception will be from 1-3 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 20.
Van Moorlehem said she has fond memories of the Minnesota landscape from her childhood when her family took yearly vacations. Her family stayed at Minnesota state parks, from Camden to Voyageurs and those in between.
“I recall my Dad pointing out the birch trees and wanting to plant one at home,” Van Moorlehem said. “All the parks had bodies of water, which still is one of my favorite things to be around. Lakes have a feeling of power and at the same time a soothing calm feeling to them. The sound of lapping water on the shore is therapeutic.”
That was the time her family had fun together, Van Moorlehem said.
“My dad died when I was 13, so those times are cherished memories for me, when everything in the world was good and safe.”
She’s traveled to “other places of beauty” on the East Coast and Hawaii. Van Moorlehem said Hawaii’s landscape is tropical and lush.
“Painting the Hawaiian landscape, the blues and greens would be much more intense,” Van Moorlehem said. “Black sand and other tropical plant textures would be fun to incorporate in paintings. The flow of the composition of Hawaii paintings would be different due to their mountains, craters and rugged rocks.”
Van Moorlehem sees each season a little differently, which is represented in her works. She said spring is a lighthearted, thrilling time.
“In Minnesota, it’s time to shed your winter clothes and feel much lighter again,” Van Moorlehem said. “It’s thrilling to see the new plants poke their heads out of the ground.”
One of Van Moorlehem’s paintings is titled “In The Heat of the Summer.” As a horticulturalist, she knows the warm colors of zinnias, dahlias and marigolds are in abundance in late July to August. As a psychology major, she is aware that it is in the heat of summer when crime rates, arguments and discontent are on the rise.
“The heat and passion are expressed by these same dark warm colors,” Van Moorlehem said.
Van Moorlehem loves the first snowfall, especially when it is a gray day with big snowflakes drifting down the brown landscape making it look white and pure.
“For me, this is a peaceful, quiet feeling,” Van Moorlehem said.
Although she said fall is a time of sweet sorrow, knowing the bitter cold is coming and the beauty of summer is fading, Van Moorlehem finds herself navigating toward the fall landscapes.
“I am intrigued by the fall colors and they are a joy to paint,” Van Moorlehem said. “I enjoy all four seasons, and if I painted only one season, I would not have enjoyed the project to the degree that I did. A seasonal landscape makes Minnesota what it is.”
Another way Van Moorlehem looks at landscapes would be incorporating emotions that she feels from the landscape and whom she was with at that location.
“New York artist Ronnie Cutler and other artists have told me I reveal things about myself through my paintings that I normally do not allow the public to see. This is not my intention when I paint, it just happens,” Van Moorlehem said.
During the years, Van Moorlehem said her painting style has evolved into a leaf shape stroke.
“Each painting’s composition is comprised of a mosaic of this leaf shape strokes,” Van Moorlehem said. “How much this leaf shape shows depends on how often I change colors while painting. To have successful paintings, you have to paint what you know. Having a psychology degree and a horticulture background affects my view of the world.”
For this exhibit, Van Moorlehem said she took the landscape, broke it down to colors and lines and put it back together again in a new way.
“This is the way I see landscapes,” Van Moorlehem said.
Van Moorlehem encourages people to bring their children to the exhibit.
“Ask them if they can tell you which painting represents what season,” Van Moorlehem said. “From experience, I have found children more in tune with abstract paintings than some adults. For those who already enjoy abstract paintings and want to go deeper, many of the titles of the paintings are personified giving a hint to the emotions and the thoughts of psychology that was addressed with each painting.”
