In December of 2010, I graduated from St. Norbert College in De Pere, Wisconsin, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Art, and an emphasis in Graphic Design. While my professional career ever since has been primarily dedicated to marketing and design, I recently picked back up the paintbrush – seeking to capture moments of beauty, solace, and stillness at home and in nature.
Still, it wasn’t until I visited Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum in Wausau, Wisconsin, this past fall, that I was able to articulate a vision and purpose for the work I’ve been creating.
There, I found myself immersed and uplifted by the paintings of Camille Pissaro, Fildelia Bridges, Childe Hassam, and other master-works on display in the “Cultivating Beauty” collection. Sky blue walls set the calm, atmospheric tone of the space and gold ornate frames glimmered around me like windows, inviting my gaze into each serene scene and subject held inside. Moving through this environment, I felt very still and present; left behind me was the noise, anger, bitterness, resentment of the world outside – and often so loud on the internet. My mind was at ease and my heart was inspired.
This is what I want to do, I thought to myself.
Building upon the work I’ve already started, I dream of creating a collection of paintings, dozens of small-scale, intimate snapshots – bright, beautiful, colorful, still, and serene – encapsulated in their own golden frames and hung upon similar sky blue panels, for exhibition in my community. My desire is to recreate the same feeling of respite for others viewing my work that I experienced in the “Cultivating Beauty” collection at Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum.
In this way, I consider my artistic aspiration to be more of a peace project, than a passion project. For as much as we all long for peace in the world and with one another; it’s also an internal disposition that requires nurturing – to which the artist has unique and important access to. The “Cultivating Beauty” collection at Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum reminded me of this and renewed it as my purpose for painting.
Lastly, the further and faster we move toward a society that’s built and operated by A.I., the greater my resolve to create a tangible, handmade, human-touched imprint on the world becomes. It’s important to me that my paintings eventually occupy physical space in a shared and lived reality with others. This in-person engagement and connection, and the mental health benefits it has on the individual and human spirit, is another fueling factor for how I envision sharing and showcasing my work in the future.
~Beth Groshek
Still, it wasn’t until I visited Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum in Wausau, Wisconsin, this past fall, that I was able to articulate a vision and purpose for the work I’ve been creating.
There, I found myself immersed and uplifted by the paintings of Camille Pissaro, Fildelia Bridges, Childe Hassam, and other master-works on display in the “Cultivating Beauty” collection. Sky blue walls set the calm, atmospheric tone of the space and gold ornate frames glimmered around me like windows, inviting my gaze into each serene scene and subject held inside. Moving through this environment, I felt very still and present; left behind me was the noise, anger, bitterness, resentment of the world outside – and often so loud on the internet. My mind was at ease and my heart was inspired.
This is what I want to do, I thought to myself.
Building upon the work I’ve already started, I dream of creating a collection of paintings, dozens of small-scale, intimate snapshots – bright, beautiful, colorful, still, and serene – encapsulated in their own golden frames and hung upon similar sky blue panels, for exhibition in my community. My desire is to recreate the same feeling of respite for others viewing my work that I experienced in the “Cultivating Beauty” collection at Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum.
In this way, I consider my artistic aspiration to be more of a peace project, than a passion project. For as much as we all long for peace in the world and with one another; it’s also an internal disposition that requires nurturing – to which the artist has unique and important access to. The “Cultivating Beauty” collection at Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum reminded me of this and renewed it as my purpose for painting.
Lastly, the further and faster we move toward a society that’s built and operated by A.I., the greater my resolve to create a tangible, handmade, human-touched imprint on the world becomes. It’s important to me that my paintings eventually occupy physical space in a shared and lived reality with others. This in-person engagement and connection, and the mental health benefits it has on the individual and human spirit, is another fueling factor for how I envision sharing and showcasing my work in the future.
~Beth Groshek