The Robert Henri Museum and Art Gallery
The Robert Henri Museum and Art Gallery is pleased to announce that Andrea Gage, from Iowa City, Iowa, will be the Artist in Residence from September 1 to September 15, 2023. A reception will take place at the museum on Wednesday September 6 from 5:00 to 7:00 to honor her. Andrea’s work will be on display at the museum with many available for purchase.
Andrea’s biography is an interesting one and follows:
The nasty crayon and the teeth-marked pencil in the bottom of my purse along with a pharmacy receipt the length of I-80 were the only art supplies I happened to have with me during some of the longest hours and hardest days sitting at the hospital. The bad news - there was no eraser on the mini-golf pencil. The good news - I had a lot of time to practice. Art became my solace. Sketching and drawing was a quiet calming activity that took my focus off of anxiety and onto the beauty of what was around me. And sometimes I really had to look hard. We all do. When life stinks and we can’t see the beauty in it, we can create it for ourselves. We have to. That’s what we do as humans to survive and that is what we do as artists. I hope you too can find something that speaks to you in my paintings, but more importantly in the world around you. I look forward to hearing from you.
Andrea’s Artist Statement follows:
I think the real artists are just too busy with being and growing and acting like themselves to worry about the end. The end will be what it will be. The object is intense living, fulfillment; the great happiness in creation. People sometimes phrase about the joy of work. It is only in creative work that joy may be found.” – Robert Henri, The Art Spirit, (1923).
While I have always enjoyed art, it wasn’t until the busyness of life took over that I realized I had pushed it aside. Too many things on my plate with work, children, family commitments, and laundry to have time to create. I was busy creating life – or so I thought. It is strange how the potholes in life’s road force a new perspective. When sitting in a pit, you’re forced to look up.
The end will be what it will be. This sentiment that Robert Henri expresses above is exactly what ran through my mind countless times during all the chemo, radiation, surgery rounds with my parents’ cancer battles. During moves across the country for my husband’s advancing career or endless ear infections, stomach flu or anxiety attacks that life brings to our doorstep, I needed a balance. I realized during those up all night events as the night watchman and hand holder that I needed to take a closer look at life. I had taken up sketching on receipts from the bottom of my purse with the sticky crayon or chewed pencil with the broken eraser to keep myself awake while I took the nightshift of caregiving. I soon lost track of the time. The doodles turned into form, the lines into expression and I soon began to see. I was looking beyond what I knew and began to draw what I was seeing. More than that really – to create from what I was feeling. It was during those moments that time stood still for me and the worry, stress and exhaustion seemed to fall away to clear focus.
Peace of mind is not easy to find. It is a scavenger hunt of one’s own making. I had the clues and the answers, yet the puzzle pieces didn’t match the image on the box that I was sold. There are no refunds or exchanges. The end will be what it will be. Life is what we make it. I have to pursue the moments I have in front of me. The view I choose to take in life is mine. I can look at it as work or as creation – as duty or joy. Capturing the essence of life in a moment is my joy in creating works of art. I hope to encourage others to see and create joy for themselves.
The museum’s artist programs are being sponsored by the membership of the museum. The Artist in Residence program was established in 1988 to encourage understanding and appreciation of the arts in central Nebraska and to promote the legacy of Robert Henri, one of America’s greatest art instructors. He taught more than one thousand students over his long career including well-known artists such as Edward Hopper, Rockwell Kent, George Bellows, Marjorie Ryerson and Elizabeth Grandin.
Artists can apply to the museum for consideration for entry into the program by going to its web page and printing off the application and submitting it. Applications are currently being accepted for the 2024 program.
The Robert Henri Museum and Art Gallery is a national treasure that is the result of the work of many volunteers, board members and professional staff who have toiled for more than thirty years. The site is now listed on the United States Department of Interior’s National Register of Historic Places and has more Henri paintings and sketches on display than any other museum or gallery. The museum complex is located at 218 East 8th Street in Cozad and is open from May 1 to October 31 on Tuesdays through Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information call 308-784-4154 or visit the museum’s web page at www.roberthenrimuseum.org or its Facebook page.