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Art center provides local artists with exposure
Willamarie Huelskamp's paintings displayed in the Main House Gallery of the Eccles Community Art Center. PHOTO BY MO WILLIAMS |
By ERIN MONAGHAN | asst. A & E editor
September 10, 2004
Towering above the corner of 26th and Jefferson in Ogden is a Victorian home housing more than 100 pieces of art. The Eccles Community Art Center is a nonprofit organization designed to foster appreciation and awareness for performing and visual arts in the Ogden area. For more than 40 years, the Ogden Arts Council has maintained this house.
Every month a new artist is featured in the Main House Gallery and in the Carriage House Gallery. This month the Eccles Center is showing the work of Willamarie Huelskamp in the main house and Marama Hansenin the carriage house.
According to Debra Muller, the Eccles Center class coordinator, about 150 people attended last week’s First Friday Stroll.
“I’m thrilled to see the way contemporary art fits in to something very old,” Huelskamp said.
Huelskamp painted realistic scenes for 20 years. Then when her daughter was born, she shifted her style to more abstract and nonrepresentational works.
“I didn’t want to do nice paintings for people anymore,” she said.
Now, all of her work comes directly from her head. Nothing is re-created onto the canvas through a photograph. All of her paintings are expressions of her memories or feelings.
Instead of just painting people or animals on a white canvas, Huelskamp tries to create layers and texture to her art. In the piece entitled “Dancing In and Out of the Rainbow,” a map is peeking out beneath the paint. This is in contrast to the two-dimensional figures in the piece.
“I’m always trying to let the foreground move back and the background move forward,” Huelskamp said.
According to Muller, all artists are reviewed and chosen by an exhibit board. Sometimes it can take up to two or three years to have an exhibit shown at the Eccles Center.
“It’s very diverse the type of arts we explore up here at the center,” Muller said.
Behind the main house is the center’s Renaissance Complex. It is home to the Carriage House Gallery, a dance studio and art studios. This month the Carriage House Gallery is featuring local artist Marama Hansen. After forty-four years as a nurse Hansen began what she refers to as her second career as an artist. Hansen never received any formal art training while in school, but during retirement a friend gave her an oil paint starter kit. Now, she thinks of the local art community as an extended family.
“It’s been more fun, and I’ve met some neat people in art,” she said.
This is the fourth time Hansen has been featured in the Carriage House Gallery. Hansen is also part of the center’s Dosa program. Dosa tours local elementary schools teaching children about art. Hansen said she asks the children if anyone is an artist, and a few children will raise their hands. Then she asks if anyone has ever carved a pumpkin or drawn a picture, and many more hands go up.
“Everyone is an artist if you stop and think about it,” Hansen said.
Hansen offers a bit of advice to aspiring artists. She suggests to students to read, go to workshops and always be aware of the world around them.
“Always be aware and looking,” she said. “You can’t just sit and watch TV doing nothing with your life.”
Because the Eccles Community Arts Center is a non-profit organization, it is dependant on the donation of its members. Donations range from $25 to $1000. It also offers workshops and classes to the community pertaining to the arts. It is open six days a week 9 a.m. - 5 p.m., Saturdays 9 a.m.- 3 p.m. Admission is free. For more information go to ogden4arts.org.
You can contact reporter Erin Monaghan at 626-7105
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