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Each year a new fine art
poster is created featuring the work of a Batavia
artist. The festival obtains the original artwork to add
to the City Art Collection. Below are our past posters
and information about the artists.
Past posters continue to be available for sale at
$10/each. |
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Return to 2010 Poster Page |
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| Artist Sharon
Sychta |
| From the diminutive to the monumental, from the
peaceful to the powerful, my sculptures express
my journey of discovery. Mirroring my
life, my connections, my passions and my loves,
my three-dimensional pieces are informed by my
reality, reference the natural world, and know
no boundaries. The process of involving
impressions of my world create highly personal
work but very universal in its themes.
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Every time I start a new sculpture the
beginning is a welcomed challenge that
moves me deep into my being. I love
transforming by hand a variety of media
and found objects; creating layers,
using color, bending and wrapping, and
manipulating the surface until a piece
of my story emerges. Each creation
represents a glimpse of my past, a
window to my future. Working, art, and
education filled my early years. I
graduated from North Central College in
Naperville, Illinois, with a
concentration in fine art and marketing.
I started out creating hand-built and
wheel-thrown pottery, but clay was too
limiting and soon new materials and new
experiences worked their way into the
narrative and gave shape to my current
sculptures – my life and art evolved
together! I continue my education with
classes taught by professional artists
and I have been juried into several
group shows. I received my first formal
honorable mention in 2011 from Corey
Postiglione, guest juror and associate
professor of Art History and Fine Art,
Columbia College, Chicago, IL. |
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I am very active in the local arts
community in Batavia, Illinois. I
maintain a working studio at Water
Street Studios, where I was a founding
member, as well as their inaugural
marketing director. Because sharing art
with others brings me great professional
joy, I teach numerous workshops and
classes at Water Street. It is
especially fulfilling to me to inspire
young budding artists. Inspiration for
my work and my teaching is a gift I
receive daily from my husband, three
daughters, community, and friends. |
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| 2011 |
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The 2011 poster features the sculpture
entitled
"Flow"
by Water
Street Studios scupltor Rita
Grendze |
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| Artist Rita
Grendze |
| I think of my art as a
study of material and time. Making sculpture
from multiples of found and manufactured
objects, I often combine a hard structure like
steel with a softer, less permanent element,
such as felt or thread. Looking for the familiar
in objects, I allow myself to be seduced by
shapes and materials. I then use a joining
process that emphasizes rhythm and the passing
of time: welding hundreds of hemispheres
together, knitting dozens of yarn cords, drawing
thousands of small circles. In each medium I’m
creating patterns, but the volume of the
materials and markings is indicative of real
time passed. Within this framework, I insert
materials like spices, hand written notes, and
dried plants that use other senses to involve
the viewer, to possibly invoke a memory.
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Rita's Website |
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| 2010 |
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| "Bellevue" by Greta
Bell |
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| Artist Greta Bell |
I've always said that I
paint what I see.
Sometimes I create new stories
—imagining new space and form—
while other times I am reaching into the past
looking to evoke a memory.
By re-imagining the familiar I aim to make my
viewer rediscover their surroundings or
re-examine on oft overlooked corner of their
neighborhood.
The greatest reward for me is drawing an
emotional response from my viewer that reaches
beyond mere aesthetics into the heart.
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Greta Bell is a self taught artist who lives in Batavia
with her family and is a resident artist at Water Street
Studios.
“Bellevue” is a painting of oils on canvas. The original
painting will be part of the permanent Batavia City Hall
Art Collection.
Bell co-curated the Birdland exhibition featuring 19
other artists as well as her memorial to the much loved
Batavian alderwoman, Linnea Miller.
Her work was featured in the June, 2010 Aurora Art Walk,
where she won the People's Choice Award. A solo show
featuring works about her hometown was held August 6,
2010 at
Allen + Pepa Gallery
in Batavia as a preview event for the
Art In Your Eye festival. |
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Greta's Website
Greta's Facebook Page |
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| 2009 |
"RRRT in Yer' AIEY"
by Batavia artist
Joe Gagnepain |
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Francis Joseph Gagnepain IV (Joe) is a local freelance
artist working in multiple mediums as a muralist,
sculptor, signmaker, logo designer, and painter.
He is the creator of Batavia's Mural on the South
facade of the bicycle shop. Joseph also produces
monumental, recycled sculptures out of bicycle parts and
assorted junk and scrap metal.
He is a founder of Water Street Studios, the
upcoming art center in downtown Batavia, featuring
artist studios, classrooms, and a gallery. Joseph is
very interested in bridging art to the community, and
creating works that inspire which enhance our
surroundings. |
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Brian DeWolf thinks of himself
as a photographer more so than an artist. But,
if creating landscape images that evoke strong
feeling is an art, he could be considered a
photographic artist. Whatever label is attached
to his work, it gets attention and has nostalgic
appeal.
"The Fox Valley (mainly the Illinois river towns
of Geneva, Batavia, and St. Charles), has been
my home for more than 30 years. I made a project
of photographing this area simply to develop
photographic skill. When we're in unfamiliar
surroundings, such as a vacation, pictures seem
to be everywhere so it seemed a practical
exercise to develop a “photographic eye” in my
own back yard. We need not travel far to
experience the way light falls seductively upon
subjects. Striking scenes are everywhere. After
all, photographing is the process of selection
and isolating a subject in favorable light. It’s
a mental exercise that can be done anywhere.”
And judges for Professional Photographers of
America (PPA) agreed that he became skillful. A
number of Brian’s photographs have been
"merited" in international competition. His
image of a bicyclist crossing the fog-shrouded
bridge over the Fox River earned a place in
PPA's LOAN COLLECTION for 2002. Marathon Press,
publisher of the LOAN COLLECTION book describes
this array of images as the "best of the best"
from over 8,000 entries entered in international
competition. More of Brian's photographs have
been selected for PPA's General Showcase
Collections. A summary appears on the
Recognition page.
Brian grew up in Wheaton, IL. He attended
McKendree College in Lebanon, IL and graduated
with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology. He
sold hardware for his father's business in the
1970's and was a policeman in St. Charles, IL
from 1979 until his retirement as a sergeant in
May of 2000. He began photographing with a relic
Mamiya 35mm camera and two lenses right after
graduating in 1971. As time permitted, he
photographed landscapes on sales trips around
the Midwest. "I might have been a traffic
hazard. I was always watching cloud formations
and scenery as I drove." "The Fox Valley (mainly
the Illinois river towns of Geneva, Batavia, and
St. Charles), has been my home for more than 30
years. I made a project of photographing this
area simply to develop photographic skill. When
we're in unfamiliar surroundings, such as a
vacation, pictures seem to be everywhere so it
seemed a practical exercise to develop a
“photographic eye” in my own back yard. We need
not travel far to experience the way light falls
seductively upon subjects. Striking scenes are
everywhere. After all, photographing is the
process of selection and isolating a subject in
favorable light. It’s a mental exercise that can
be done anywhere.”
"We filter everything we see and hear. We
unwittingly isolate parts of a scene that get
our attention and ignore others. That's one
reason our photographs can disappoint us when we
see the print. The camera records it all. A
disappointing photograph can be the result of
clutter in the scene that should have been
omitted. Or maybe the light didn’t compliment
the subject"
"I rarely shoot spontaneously. I’m a plodder and
a planner for the most part and, as photographer
David Plowden said, 'stalk photographs like a
heron.' I don't photograph for sensation. Mood
motivates me. Sometimes I choose a subject and
wait for good light and scout for best angles.
Other times I shoot based upon instinct. Either
way, I think about the lighting and search the
viewfinder for distracting objects. And I
especially like black and white images. They are
abstract and, in their own way, strengthen
relationships between forms, textures, lines,
and shapes. But if color holds an emotion, I'll
use it."
"The past intrigues me and can hold sentiment. I
hope viewers get a feeling of the past, or a
sense that our present quickly becomes locked
away forever. Most people want to hold unchanged
that which is interesting or gives them joy. It
might be a flower, brown and brittle, that was
tucked between the pages of a book to remind you
of a walk on a bright, clean May morning. Or
maybe it's a letter, with pages tearing at the
folds, written by one whose voice you can no
longer hear or whose hand you can no longer
touch. If my photography can evoke something
like this, it has done its job."
Brian's business and artistic philosophy is
simple; make the best images possible with the
highest quality materials. When Brian was in
sales, he saw some fine companies violate their
customers' trust. "They had good products, but
they wanted more profit. Instead of maintaining
the quality that earned their customer's trust,
they chose to cut costs. “Sure, there's a market
for products of lesser integrity, but I didn't
want to be part of it. I don't ever want
dissatisfied clients to be figured into the cost
of doing business."
"I owe so much to my parents. My father had
unlimited optimism and creativity. My mother
loves people and has boundless generosity. They
have inspired me. Brian DeWolf is a member of
Professional Photographers of America and the
Fox Valley Arts Council.
Brian is also a Patient Volunteer for Fox Valley
Hospice. This organization assists persons with
life threatening illnesses, and their families.
It receives no government funding and is
supported entirely by the donations of generous
people and businesses. |
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| 2006 |
"Wilson Street
Bridge"
by Batavia artist
Rebecca Wilson Allen |
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 Rebecca
Wilson Allen is a native of Colorado and has a
Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the Kansas
City Art Institute, where she majored in
Industrial Design. She also attended the Center
for Creative Studies in Detroit, as part of an
art institute exchange program. After graduation
she worked for many years for exhibit and
interior design firms in Denver and Chicago.
Currently she works for her husband; architect
Lane Allen, assisting with as a drafting,
design, and architectural illustration.
Rebecca founded and curates The Gallery at
Allen+Pepa Architects, which is dedicated to
showcasing the work of local artists. She was a
founding member of the Batavia Renaissance
Project, which was organized to promote and
encourage art activities in Batavia and was a
founding organizer and steering committee member
of the Art in Your Eye Fine Arts Festival.
Rebecca usually works in oil pastels, drawing
local scenes in the Fox Valley and Chicago area.
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| 2005 |
"The
Golden City"
by Batavia artist
Rosalie Waranius Vass |
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 Rosalie
Waranius Vass lives and has a studio in Batavia,
Illinois. Vass grew up in the glacier area of
Wisconsin. Her hometown was small and her
roaming range quite large. She was fascinated by
the changes in the sky and the colors of the
seasons. She watched the cows and sheep graze in
the pastures and all of life seemed amazingly
slow and multi-colored. She was content to scan
her environment to find the colors, textures,
moods, and compositions that she would later
paint.
Her paintings burst with the reflections and
experiences of her childhood adventures and
adult travel. The desert, the ocean, the
mountains and the architecture of her world
travel all find a place in her work; never as
one scene from one location but a blenderful of
images from many times and places. She has
painted flocks of sheep, herds of cows, choirs
of angels, and countless towns, cities, palaces,
bridges, and cemeteries. Her paintings are like
random pages out of the diary of her life; come
experience the joy of her art.
Vass paints with mixed water media (watercolor
and acrylic) on heavy watercolor paper in a
layering technique. She uses prisma color pencil
to heighten the texture and direction of the
movement in her paintings. The sizes of her work
range from a tiny (5 x 7 inches) to a very large
(3 x 4 feet). Commission requests are welcome.
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Link to Rosalie's Website |
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Great appreciation is extended to the printer of our posters:
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Return to Fine Art Poster Main Page |
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My
work is generally introspective ranging from
realistic renderings to abstract compositions in
acrylic paint using universal themes and
symbolic colors. I have an inner compulsion to
liberate my passions and ideas - to express my
most profound feelings about the human condition
and complexities of life. Mostly, I rely on my
instincts, intuition and underlying emotions as
opposed to working from observation.
