Final Days to see "Layers" at ArtReach St. Croix

On view for only a few more days, visit "Layers" at ArtReach St. Croix's galleries to see abstracted photography, contemporary fiber and small layered paintings.

As humans, our experiences over a lifetime create a complex, layered filter that influence how we respond to the world around us. Layers features artists whose life experiences are reflected in the layering techniques they use to create photo art, contemporary fiber art and gouache and ink paintings.

A resident of Marine of St. Croix, Matt Gillett has been photographing things he finds beautiful for years in order to share the beauty and love he found in the world around him. He began taking steps beyond photography and began creating works of art that involves blending photographic images using digital craft and special printing techniques. The resulting layered photo art is more akin an abstract painting.

As collaborative, contemporary fiber artists, Vicki Kessler and Donna Kjonaas bring two sets of life experiences into their two and three dimensional works. The pieces of the Land, Sky, Water series that will be displayed as part of Layers, reflects the influence of nature that has been with them since childhood – Kessler’s in southwestern Wisconsin with rivers and bluffs and Kjonaas’ in North Dakota with prairies and an endless horizon. They combine vintage and reclaimed fabrics with creative stitching and textile embellishments that create a tactile and multi-layered experience for viewers.

Growing up in Las Vegas, Nevada, Susan Solomon developed a ingrained sense of color and light that was influenced not only by the neon lights of the Las Vegas Strip but also the desert plants and sky found in the surrounding Nevada desert. A poet as well as a painter, Solomon captures large spaces and ideas on small surfaces through the combination of gouache and ink with a resist technique of layering washes and over painting.