FREDERICKSBURG ENTERTAINMENT
News and notes from Fredericksburg's entertainment scene
Virginia Wine Experience focuses on farms and flowers in latest exhibit
BY CRAIG SCHULIN
“Bucolic Wanderings,” the newest art exhibit at downtown’s Virginia Wine Experience, is a reminder of the rural beauty that we have been blessed with in our part of the commonwealth.
Four artists, Rick Klingbeil, Ed King, Michael Dean and Renee Gauvin, have their work on display.
Klingbeil’s contribution includes animal subjects, though it is his pastoral depictions and old farm houses that really catch the eye.
With a certain degree of detail, Klingbeil explores themes of aging landscapes—ones familiar to us, but ones slowly disappearing before our eyes.
Behind the subject in each work you know there is history there, with stories you wonder about.
Ed King, whose day job is sharing his artistic knowledge and talents with Germanna students, is all about the animals in this exhibit.
The linear, semi-abstract style he employs creates a realism that takes us beyond how we usually see things.
A pig takes on a complex character. A bull becomes majestic. And a dog more thoughtful.
Dean, a fellow teacher at Germanna, includes both pastoral and downtown images.
With both, there is a sense of keen awareness of his surrounding.
The texture and the colors he uses creates an intensity indicative of someone who is pouring everything he has onto the canvas.
Gauvin’s works take viewers into tranquil, serene, even happy places.
Two paintings, both with a puppy as the subject, immediately transport you to that happy place.
She has managed to capture the joy of watching a pup chase a ball, to roll among flowers.
It should be noted that Gauvin acts as the curator for the artwork shown at the Virginia Wine Experience.
“She stays very busy,” said Edwin Wyant, one of the store’s owners.
The pairing of the art shows and the wine store has been beneficial to all involved.
“The Wyants have been extremely gracious in the use of their space and generous in their gifts of time and resources in order to make this a successful gallery,” said Gauvin.
For the Wyants, the gallery brings added awareness of the store and new customers.
And for the art lover, a wine store; the wine enthusiast, fine art.
What: “Bucolic Wanderings: Farms, Flora and Fauna”
Where: Virginia Wine Experience, 826 Caroline St.
When: Through May. First Friday reception tomorrow, April 6, 6–9 p.m.
Info: 540/847-9231
Craig Schulin: 540/374-5403
cschulin@freelancestar.com
