Aaron Vehling

Artist Robert Stackhouse set to lecture about his art Tuesday, Wednesday
Students who step into the Foster Gallery between now and Nov. 26 will be treated to a two-fold show.

Perhaps the most eye-catching painting hanging on the walls is “Drifter,” a massive work of art approximately 120 inches tall and 80 inches wide.

In the center of “Drifter,” the front of a thick-hulled ship cuts through the sludge of water. The combination of gray and blue paint, comprising the massive vessel, drips over the line dividing the ship from water before coming to a stop at the lower edge of the painting.

“Drifter” is just one of many Robert Stackhouse pieces being displayed in the Foster Gallery’s present show “Crossing Dimensions: Differing views of power and solitude.” Stackhouse will be giving two lectures in the Gallery this week: 6:30 p.m. Tuesday and 10 a.m. Wednesday.

“Drifter” is seen as a skull, art lecturer Jane Herrick said. The ship is drifting, coming at the viewer.

“It’s taking you somewhere – you’re not sure where,” she said, explaining it was a journey. “It’s very overpowering, and engulfs the (viewer).”

Eliciting the response of feelings of isolation and fear while viewing the works on display is not uncommon, due in no small part, to the immense size of the the works, she said.

“Stackhouse’s pieces are overwhelming,” Herrick said, adding that the size helps draw the viewer in and emphasize the ghost-like overpowerment.

Sophomore Joan Crane’s feelings mirror Herrick’s when viewing “Drifter,” and the first word that comes to mind universally sums up Stackhouse’s work:

“Eerie.”

Junior Anne Jensen agreed.

“Its size dominates the room,” she said. “(“Drifter”) evokes the greatest response from me.”

“It’s overwhelmingly beautiful,” Crane added.

While this may be the first time Stackhouse’s works are being displayed, it is not the first time the artist’s presence has been known in Eau Claire.

Herrick said she remembers when Stackhouse visited UW-Eau Claire in the 70s, a time when he worked with a handful of Eau Claire students on a sculpture. That sculpture has been destroyed by weathering.

Natural destruction is not alien to Stackhouse’s sculptures, which are primarily constructed with delicate materials.

In fact, Herrick said, the majority of the paintings in Foster Gallery are watercolors of older sculptures, however abstract they may have become on the canvas.

The university first obtained the works after speaking with the Belger Art Center.

“I (contacted) Myra Morgan, the director of the Belger Art Center in Kansas City, Missouri,” Herrick said. “A lot of Stackhouse’s work is owned by the John and Maxine Belger Family Foundation.”

UW-Eau Claire is borrowing the Stackhouse works and paying a rental fee to the Belger Foundation, which purchased the works from Stackhouse.

In describing one of Stackhouse’s works, “K.C. Way,” Roberta Lord of Klein Art Works said, “The sculpture’s construction, seemingly simplistic, is master-crafted … it is, in fact, the professionalism of Stackhouse’s building technique, and the solidity of his construction that allows viewers to engage seriously with the work.”

Sculptor John McQueen’s student-collaborated work on display outside Foster Gallery
On first sight, a casual viewer of artist John McQueen’s sculptures could very easily mistake the combination of sticks, cloth and string as signs of fragility, structural weakness, delicate to the touch or “handle with care.”

But upon closer inspection, the very fibers holding the sculptures together are anything but fragile – McQueen’s nationwide notoriety was not gained with poor craftsmanship. Similar to the Stackhouse paintings lining the walls of Foster Gallery, visitors will be able to pick up on the underlying feelings of strength and resilience.

To create one such sculpture, McQueen collaborated with six UW-Eau Claire students on a piece titled “Dirty Weather,” crafted entirely from willow branches.

The students involved with the project are seniors Bridget Reil, Leslie Vaglica and Samantha Siker; juniors Anne Jensen, Corey Huttenburg; and sophomore Joan Crane.

McQueen originally came in with a design, art lecturer Jane Herrick said. With the help of Gallery director Tom Wagener, the team put together two 4-foot-by-8-foot sheets of wallboard. The six students then enlarged McQueen’s design and divided the wallboard into a grid system.

With the initial design now in place, McQueen and the students worked together to drill the necessary holes, which were later filled with fresh-cut willow branches from McQueen’s home.
– Spectator staff