Local Art Seen: Kathryn Lenz at the Zeitgeist Cafe

"Wild Animal"

This month Kathryn Lenz's paintings have been on display at the Zeitgeist Cafe.  It's harvest season for gardeners and some of Lenz's work looks delicious. The show is titled "Out of the Kitchen" and it features a variety of  subjects including vegetables and animalia. Her paintings of bunnies are especially wonderful and seem to reflect her own gentle spirit.

Her artist statement is as follows:
This show focuses on a healthy natural environment as well as small things that capture one’s imagination during a day at home. It features a variety of experiments that I have cooked up recently from ingredients including fiberglass, glues, 3-d prints, jewelry chain, super gloss, acrylic paint and varnishes as well as applications of garden produce for mark making.

While there, be sure to check out Kathryn's "Master's Hand Mobile" which may become a blog post all its own.

If you need an excuse to visit Zeitgeist, the cafe menu is superb. Ignore the Superior Street renovation and just do it. If you're like most of us, you probably could use the exercise.

"Poppy Arrangement"

"In the Beginning"

"In the Beginning" -- Detail

"All In."

"Honey Can You Get It"

"Her Chocolate Duchessness"

"Vegetable Medley"

"The Prep Bowls"

For the record, Kathryn Lenz should be added to your Twin Ports "Artists to Watch" list. 

If you can get out for next Friday's Downtown Duluth Art Crawl make sure you drop in at the Zeitgeist. 

Related Link

Kathryn Lenz Breathes New Life Into Milton's Hell

Local Art Seen: Kathryn Lenz Breathes New Life Into Milton's Hell

During the month of April Karpeles Manuscript Museum Library is hosting an interesting set of events with historical roots in John Milton and William Blake, along with a series of paintings by local artist Kathryn Lenz. The exhibition and lecture theme is Milton's Hell: A Prequel to Genesis. Though the opening reception was April 3, there are a pair of events coming later this week with info set at the end of this blog post.

"Flight through Chaos"

In addition to Lenz' paintings there are twelve 8.5"x11" prints of William Blake's so-called Butts Set of Paradise Lost illustrations along one of the walls inside Karpeles. Blake illustrated Paradise Lost three times and the sets are referred to as the Thomas Set (published in 1807), the Butts Set (published in 1808) and the Linnell Set (published in 1822).

Ms. Lenz has also shared prints of five photos she took of plates in the 1762 Howard's edition of the St. James Bible housed in the University of Minnesota Duluth’s Ramseyer-Northern Bible Society Museum Collection. These prints are displayed courtesy of Archives and Special Collections, Kathryn A. Martin Library, University of Minnesota Duluth. They serve both as a reference for the artist's Milton paintings (because Milton drew from the Bible) and as examples, along with the Blake prints, of English art work produced about 100 years after "Paradise Lost" was first published. It's not inconceivable that Milton's work influenced the artists who made these Bible images.

Kathryn Lenz's paintings are evocative, and at times surprisingly complex. For those unable to make the visit to Karpeles during the next few weeks I'm sharing  few select images here, somewhat weaker in impact than what you will find in person.

"The Ptolemaic Universe"

EN: What was it that prompted you to become so involved in Milton's work?

Kathryn Lenz: The project began as an opportunity to collaborate with my sister Karmen Lenz, an English Professor at Middle Georgia State University. Paradise Lost is heavy reading, but conversing with Karmen about various passages made it easier to digest. Additionally, although I've read through the whole work, my studies have mostly focused on only the first two of the twelve books. The work is full of imagery, and I found myself taking notes and making sketches as I read. Several famous artists have illustrated Paradise Lost, most notably William Blake and Gustave Doré, and their illustrations also inspired me. I enjoyed tracking down images on the web of pagan gods mentioned in the epic as well as European artwork that could have influenced Milton's imagination. It seemed that the more I worked on the project the more I was drawn in by both the epic and the images of famous works of art.

EN: How did you choose which passages to illustrate?

Detail from "Pandemonium"... an experession
of futility. Nothing brings satisfaction

KL: I chose passages to illustrate based primarily on their appeal and secondarily on whether or not images of those passages by other artists were available. For example, I did not illustrate Satan holding a council with his top advisors in their palace in Pandemonium because I was satisfied with the John Martin and Gustave Doré depictions of this scene (see attached images).

EN: You mention the influence of Hieronymus Bosch to some extent. What other artists influenced this series of works?

KL: Famous visual artists who I think influenced this series of works include Hieronymus Bosch, John Martin, William Blake, Gustave Doré, Salvador Dali, M.C. Escher, René Magritte, Georgia O’Keefe, Arthur Dove, Odilon Redon, and the cartoonist Gary Larson. I'm sure that this is not an exhaustive list.

EN: What kind of reaction have you had from those who have come to see the exhibition?

KL: Thankfully, anyone who had a bad reaction to this show has kept it to themselves as far as I know. Reactions that people have expressed to me have varied from "great show!" to "What an imagination!" to "I'm impressed with how much work you put into this!" to "I don't understand your paintings and I was confused by the video, too." But let me add that the person who expressed confusion then went on to discuss Milton's perspective on the concept of free will, and that was a great reaction to the show.

"Flight to Earth"

"Satan Presiding at the Infernal Council" by John Martin.

Gustave Dore's interpretation of the scene depicted above. 

* * * * 

Peter Spooner will be giving a talk at 7 p.m. Thursday.
Kevin A. Quamby's talk will be on Friday, also at 7:00.

Noteworthy Trivia

On this day in 1452 Leonardo da Vinci was born.

His father was unable to attend the birth because

he was too busy trying to finish his taxes.

Meantime life goes on...

Milton's Hell, the Prequel to Genesis @ Karpeles

Blake-inspired ceiling detail: home of Aethelred Eldridge

In April Karpeles Manuscript Museum Library is hosting an interesting set of events with historical roots in John Milton and William Blake, along with a series of paintings by local artist Kathryn Lenz, Milton's Hell: A Prequel to Genesis. The opening reception will be Tuesday April 3 at 7:00 p.m. which will include a video presentation of Milton's Hell in voice and imagery. Preceding this opening reception there will be a lecture at 4:00 p.m. featuring Susan Sink, Oblate of St. John's Abbey, at UMD. The following Sunday Sam Black and friends will perform the Music of Rebellion and Divine Creation at 3:00 p.m. with a video preceding at 2:30.

Paradise Lost, was composed by the blind and impoverished Milton from 1658 to 1664. A portion of this epic has been translated into images by Kathryn Lenz. In addiition to Lenz's paintings there will also be reproductions of William Blake's artwork inspired by Milton's epic poem by the 17th century English poet.

The first version, published in 1667, consisted of ten books with over ten thousand lines of verse. A second edition followed in 1674, arranged into twelve books (in the manner of Virgil's Aeneid) with minor revisions throughout and a note on the versification. Considered Milton's major work, it solidified his reputation as one of the great English poets of his time. The poem concerns the Biblical story of the Fall of Man: the temptation of Adam and Eve by the fallen angel Satan and their expulsion from the Garden of Eden. Milton's purpose, stated in Book I, is to "justify the ways of God to men."

The visionary poet and painter William Blake (1757-1827), author of Songs of Innocence and Experience, later illustrated Milton's work. A portion of Blake's work on Milton's theme has been reproduced and will also be on display at Karpeles in April.

Illustration by William Blake

What interested me in part were some of the recollections it generated from my four years at Ohio University. One of the associate professors in the art department from the late 1950's till 2014 was a Blake enthusiast, Æthelred Eldridge. If I remember correctly, his home was featured in the magazine Home and Garden. He welcomed people to visit and swim in his rural pond/small lake. According to Wikipedia he is best known "for his black and white art accompanied by esoteric writings inspired by William Blake, and the founding of a "Church of William Blake" not far from his home in Athens, Ohio."

What I best remember is that Seigfried Hall, home to the art school, had a wide arch  upon which Eldridge a few years earlier had painted a massive mural that sprawled overhead and down to the top of the entrance. There were evidently complaints about the mural so that by the time I attended school in 1970 he had whitewashed it and covered that with a lengthy script which probably no one read in its entirety without a neck injury, but that evidently satisfied the authorities.

I asked Kathryn Lenz, whom I met through one of Kathy McTavish's events, what prompted her to do this series of paintings on Milton's Hell. She replied that "several years ago, my sister Karmen Lenz, a professor of English at Middle Georgia State University, employed an image of one of my cartoon paintings in a class-activity to get reluctant students to write. I found this very appealing and wanted to collaborate with her on a project that would have an educational application for her as well as serve as a catalyst for my development as an artist. She often includes parts of John Milton's "Paradise Lost" in her courses, but it is heavy reading and can be difficult to follow. Images could potentially help students understand Milton's origin story for Sin, Death and Hell. I have found the epic to be full of passages that spark my imagination and challenge me artistically."

Lenz began working on her first sketches for these paintings three years ago. "I started working on the first of these paintings two years ago," she noted.

Additional events have also been slated as well. Wednesday April 18 at 7 pm. Peter Spooner will give a presentation on William Blake's art, especially his "Paradise Lost" illustrations, and his influence on visual art. After his presentation we will again show the Milton's Hell video.

Friday April 20 at 7 pm. Professor Kevin Quarmby, Saint Scholastica English Department, will give a presentation on Milton, Shakespeare and the Origin of the Specious in Paradise Lost. After his presentation we will show the Milton's Hell video.

All of the above are free and open to the public.

Related Links
Milton's Hell in Paradise Lost.
Aesthetic Rapture Between Heaven and Hell: William Blake Illustrates John Milton’s “Paradise Lost”