New Exhibitions at the Hearst Center for the Arts

 Esther Cheng: New Works in Watermedia

The James & Meryl Hearst Center for the Arts invites you to see Esther Cheng: New Works in Watermedia on display at the Hearst Center’s Dahl-Thomas Gallery now through August 19. This farewell exhibition, guest curated by Darrell Taylor, University of Northern Iowa Gallery of Art Director, showcases the beloved Cedar Falls artist’s brilliant works in watermedia.  

A native of Taiwan, Esther Cheng came to the United States in 1972, arriving in Cedar Falls in 1979. She began taking classes from Doris Fransen at the Cedar Falls Recreation Center in 1987, where she met fellow artists Helen Logan, Priscilla Meyermann, and the late Marie Cook.

When the Hearst Center for the Arts opened its doors for the first time in 1989, Mary Huber, Executive Director, offered the emerging painters−who had by then grown from just a handful of artists to roughly fifteen−a room of their own at the Hearst Center to paint together each week (they now boast a burgeoning forty members).

In addition to her artist friends from the Hearst Center, Esther counts among her influences her instructors, the late Doris Fransen, and artist extraordinaire, Wendell Mohr, who lived in an old Vernon, Iowa schoolhouse, a two-story brick structure, complete with bell tower, gymnasium, and loft apartment until his death in 2008.

Esther fondly remembers Doris Fransen pulling up in a red station wagon loaded with brushes, paints, paper, and easels, and stopping along the way to pick up the other Thursday Painters as they made their way to a workshop such as the annual Iowa Watercolor Society’s "Paint Until You Faint" retreat at Pine Lake−more often than not−led by Wendell Mohr.

In a recent interview Cheng was asked about her process which, while evolving over time, remains essentially the same.

“First I sketch, and then I get the paper wet, laying down about three primary colors, and then I let the colors mingle. The wet paper will mingle the colors better than if I purposely mixed them,” she said.

Mingling is inherent to the process of “watermedia”−which is simply a general term for media that incorporates water. Esther said that the inclusion of water adds a certain freedom and luminosity to her works. Cheng’s watermedia includes everything from watercolor and acrylic to soft, chalk pastel and gesso.

“I like to see the beauty of the world; it doesn’t matter−big or small,” Esther said.

This love of beauty is something Cheng innately brings to her vivid watermedia.

“Life can be difficult−very stressful. But I believe that my paintings can help counteract the demanding parts of life because they bring peace and beauty.”  

 Those Who Teach: Works of Art by Hearst Center Instructors

The Hearst Center also invites you to enjoy Those Who Teach: Works of Art by Hearst Center Instructors, guest curated by Jeff Olson and assisted by Abby Haigh, on display now through August 26 in the Dresser-Robinson Gallery.

In this show, Hearst Center instructors initiate conversations as eclectic as the mediums with which their pieces have been created. Artworks in a variety of mediums from ceramics and stoneware to watercolor, oil, and intaglio are displayed.

Those Who Teach offers viewers a rare opportunity to see Hearst Center instructors’ own creations in a variety of mediums. This exhibition includes literary and visual works of art in two- and three-dimensional space by the following Hearst Center Instructors: Nicholas Meyer; Jerry Nissan; Kimberly Nicholson; Myrna Sandvik; Jeff Olsen; Priscilla Meyermann; Eric Bonzer; Jessica Calhoun; and Eric Quinn.

Enjoy the poetry of Myrna Sandvik, whose goal is to communicate with gallery attendees via emotional and intellectual cues, “at a deeper level than ordinary information gathering or conversation.”

Nicholas Meyer also seeks to convey the full range of emotions from soft and subtle to strong and dramatic through his functional, ceramic vessels.

In a recent interview, Nicholas Meyer stated, “The connection we have to the containers we use every day is an intimate one to say the least.” Meyer went on to say, “Their (utilitarian objects) tactile qualities and surfaces seduced my senses and sensibilities.”

Come experience the diverse senses and sensibilities explored by the Hearst Center’s virtuosic instructors in Those Who Teach: Works of Art by Hearst Center Instructors

Gallery Hours:

Tuesday & Thursday:  8:00 am – 9:00 pm

Wednesday & Friday:  8:00 am – 5:00 pm

Saturday & Sunday:     1:00 pm – 4:00 pm

Closed on Mondays

James & Meryl Hearst Center for the Arts

304 West Seerley Blvd. Cedar Falls

(319) 273-8641 www.hearstartscenter.com 

Audio Tours: (319) 243-3247