The fifth-year art apprentices just closed a show in Dittmann Center titled “Assemblance of a Whole.” Here is the inside scoop on these artists’ work and their lives.
Gina Gaetz ’13
Many of the art apprentices voiced difficulties they encountered in learning how to market and explain their art in the “real world.” Learning how to talk about her art has been tricky for Gina Gaetz.
“My process is just so intuitive. People always ask me why I made things the way I did … I did it because I thought it looked good, that’s why,” she said.
A “city girl” from Minneapolis, Gaetz had the widest variety of pieces in the show, featuring ceramic platters, hanging ceramic plant pots with live growth and mixed media collages that combined drawings, pictures and thread.
Inspiration from the natural world was the connecting theme that held all of Gaetz’s pieces together. “I’m really drawn to organic shapes and landscapes,” she said.
Anna Carlson ’13
We often associate art with spontaneity, but Anna Carlson describes her creative process as meditative and deliberate: “I’m very Type A in my art. I like doing things that other people don’t have the patience for,” said Carlson, a native of Washington, Conn.
Her works in the art apprentice show are carefully detailed, monochromatic patterns that appear perfect from a distance but reveal quirks and imperfections upon closer examination. They bear influence from an Interim trip Carlson took to Morocco last year where she discovered an interest in math.
“I have become obsessed with geometry. I’m really kicking myself for not paying attention in my math classes,” she said.
Noah Sanders ’13
In the year 2013, Noah Sanders graduated from college, was accepted to the St. Olaf art department’s 5th-year art apprenticeship program and got married.
It is no surprise that his art reflects the clutter of a busy mind. Sanders’s piece in the art apprentice show, titled “Visual Dictionary,” was a checkerboard collage of doodles taken from the margins of his notepads and textbooks.
“This piece was all about repurposing and giving a second chance to these sketches,” he said. “A lot of these are precious to me but no one would ever have seen them.”
Sanders, who grew up in Nashville, Tenn. but is an Ohio native, noted how pulling all these doodles together caused him to notice patterns and repetitions in his work. Religious imagery occupies a particularly noticeable place.
Noah was an active participant in Thursday night bible study at St. Olaf. “Exploring my faith, expressing it … that’s really my underpinning. That’s why I am an artist; that’s my long-term goal as an artist.”
Addie Rosenwinkel ’13
Years ago, Addie Rosenwinkel found a box of tiny, old pictures in a junk store. These photos of strangers have stuck with Rosenwinkel over the years and have found their way into her art. Her pieces in the art apprentice show are blown-up versions of these black and white photographs with a little color added, bringing out features in the pictures like a woman’s polka-dot dress.
“I wanted to take images that seem very familiar and brighten them up,” said Rosenwinkel, who hails from Chicago.
She has played with several different ways to make the pictures into art over the years. One earlier version had her cutting out features of the pictures with a hole-punch.
For the upcoming art apprentice show at the Northfield Arts Guild in April, Rosenwinkel has learned how to make ukuleles and plans to display her newfound skill.
Kara Sajeske ’13
Kara Sajeske, a native of Elmhurst, Ill., contributed work to “Assemblance of a Whole” that featured two projectors beaming kodachrome photos onto a wall. The top set of photos are her own; the bottom set, projected upside-down and underneath the first set to create a reflective effect, are photos taken by her parents in the early 1970s. Her parents were supportive of the idea – Sajeske’s mom even consented to letting Sajeske use a picture of her nude in a bathtub the photo was taken by Sajeske’s father.
Sajeske is drawn to the conceptual side of art. “My creative process begins with coming up with something that interests me and I want to explore,” she said. She then tries to communicate her exploration in a way that appeals to viewers and to her own artistic sensibility.
The art apprentices’ next show is a joint exhibition with the Carleton art department interns at the Northfield Arts Guild. The exhibit runs from April 18 – May 10.
Photo Credit: MADISON VANG/MANITOU MESSENGER
