Nov 22
Jul 12, 2018
SUMMER GALLERY SHOW – Lake Superior State University student Tomantha Sylvester ponders a painting in oil, one of more than two dozen works in mixed media by two Upper Peninsula artists on display in Lake Superior State University’s Arts Center gallery through Aug. 6.Metal, Oil, and Dirtoffers contemporary artworks in metal, clay, oil and cold wax by the husband and wife team of Dale and Cindy Wedig, from Gwinn, Mich. The Arts Center gallery is open 12-4 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday; 1-5 p.m. Thursdays and an hour prior to LSSU Arts Center performances. (LSSU/John Shibley)
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An exhibit that features works in oil, steel, copper and clay by two Upper Peninsula artists is in Lake Superior State University’s Arts Center gallery, Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., through Aug. 6.
Metal, Oil, and Dirt offers contemporary artworks in metal, clay, oil and cold wax by the husband and wife team of Dale and Cindy Wedig, who own a home studio in Gwinn, Mich., about 30 miles south of Marquette and three hours west of the Sault.
Dale Wedig is a professor of Art and Design at Northern Michigan University, where he has headed metalsmithing and sculpture concentrations for the past 34 years. Throughout his professional career, Wedig has produced work for galleries, exhibitions, and commissions throughout the United States.
“One of the greatest artistic interests I have consistently engaged has been with the compound hammer forming of sheet copper,” says Wedig. “Outcomes are only limited by my imagination and the skills I have accumulated over the past 40 years.”
Wedig recalls his first attempt at working copper every time one of his students does the same.
“I struggle to impose my will upon this material in every form I am inspired to attempt,” he says. “Very few finished works look like the original idea conceived in my head. I will keep working on that.”
Cindy Wedig, an artist of clay, oil, and cold wax, is a graduate of Northern Michigan University with a Bachelors of Fine Art. After raising her three children, she began to focus on her art career and to exhibit in both invitational and juried shows. She also produces clay functional ware for her online Etsy shop.
“I seek honesty in my artwork that reflects who I truly am deep below my flesh within my spirit or soul,” she says. “I seek to uplift those who encounter my forms to a place that reconnects them with a truth they once knew but somehow forgot in hopes of helping them to return.”
The Arts Center gallery is open 12-4 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday; 1-5 p.m. Thursdays and an hour prior to LSSU Arts Center performances.