WAUSAU, WISCONSIN: Three exhibitions selected from the Woodson Art Museum’s collection and two new outdoor sculptures are on view.
A dozen large canvases by Wisconsin painter and naturalist Owen J. Gromme, juxtaposed with preliminary pencil drawings, watercolors, and a re-created studio offer a window into the artist’s creative process in “Owen J. Gromme: An Enduring Legacy.” Gromme, a Wisconsin legend, is known as the “father of ‘Birds in Art’ ” because he served as curator of the Museum’s inaugural exhibition in 1976. The re-creation of Gromme’s Briggsville studio, refreshed with a new assortment of drawings, decoys, and studio materials, complements the paintings selected from BMO Harris Bank’s 2011 gift and three dozen preparatory works donated by Owen’s daughter, Anne Marie Gromme.
Gromme’s love of the outdoors is echoed in “Dawn to Dusk: The Sporting Spirit in America,” a selection of paintings, sculptures, and graphics focused on the sportsman’s perspective. More than two dozen paintings by Ogden Pleissner, Lynn Bogue Hunt, Frank Benson, A.L. Ripley, and others depict waterfowl and upland game hunting and complement the adjacent Gromme artworks that celebrate Wisconsin’s outdoor splendor. Both exhibitions remain on view in the Museum’s newest gallery through July 2014.
A selection of Dorothy Doughty’s Royal Worcester porcelains is on view in the recently renovated decorative arts gallery, just off the Museum’s Twelfth Street entrance. Among the Museum’s founding collections is a complete set of Dorothy Doughty Royal Worcester porcelain birds, including both the American and British series. Nearly 100 sculptures vividly depict nature as seen through Doughty’s eyes, and the majority are designed as freestanding male and female pairs. The eight pairs on view are from the American Bird series and are birds seen in Wisconsin.
Two large-scale sculptures have been added to the Museum grounds. Boys Will Be Boys, a pair of tussling bears by Dan Ostermiller, is adjacent to the main visitor entrance. Prince Marvin, a touchable bronze frog by Geoffrey Dashwood is a recent gift for the young and young at heart. The large frog is in the sculpture garden near the popular bronze hippo by Burt Brent – two sculptures on which children are invited to climb and play.
For more information, visit www.lywam.org, e-mail the Museum at museum@lywam.org, or call 715-845-7010.
Woodson Art Museum
Hours: Tues–Fri 9am–4pm
First Thurs of each month 9am–7:30pm
Thursdays during Birds in Art 9am–7:30pm
Sat–Sun Noon–5pm
Closed Mon & holidays, including New Year’s Day, Easter, July 4, Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, and Christmas
Admission: Always Free Admission
Phone: 715.845.7010
After hours press inquiries: 715.298.2901
Email: museum@lywam.org
Location: 700 N. 12th Street (Franklin & 12th Streets), Wausau, Wisconsin 54403-5007
Online: www.lywam.org
URL links to selected artwork images are available upon request by media representatives; email abeck@lywam.org.
