Natalie McGuire, Heidi Jeub at Waseca Art Center

The Waseca Art Center held a gallery opening over a snowy afternoon on Saturday, Jan. 17. Those joining the celebration had to dodge snowplows and flurries outside but were safe and warm once they got inside and saw the artistry of painter, teaching artist and public artist Heidi Jeub and photographer and mosaic artist, Natalie McGuire.

 

The Beckman Gallery featured Heidi Jeub, who introduced herself to visitors during a “meet and greet” session prior to the official introductions and speeches. While perusing the Beckman Gallery, armed with a mug of apple/cinnamon tea, Jeub approached and shared her ‘personality on display,’ “There’s more to my abstract art making than just the paintings.” The majority of her work was on canvas, and there were a few that had small frames. Present with her was her partner, hip/hop musician Terrell X. She gave him credit for naming the majority of her work. Said Jeub, “Usually when I am done with a painting, I’m just done with it, that’s when my partner comes in, most of the names are Terrell’s brainchild.” Just a few examples of the names are: “Sounds Like Something Stupid I Would Say” and “Dark Corners of the Internet (In Broad Daylight).” She uses very solid colors, red is prominent, and a very thick paint that gives her work grit, like something colorful to take a bite out of.

 

Jeub says that, for her, the fronts of the canvas are the pictures. The sides and tops, however were solid colors, she was asked why her painting doesn’t wrap around the sides and tops like so many other painters like to do, but were instead painted solid colors, Jeub had an interesting reply, “I paint the sides, tops and bottoms so the white of the canvas doesn’t fade, it protects the canvas, and adds to the painting.” She also had a single painting with an old finished-wood style frame and she said, “One of my friends did this frame for me, I don’t know where he got the wood from, but it works with the painting.”

 

St. Paul native Natalie McGuire’s work was on display in the Harguth Gallery. It consists of photos with mosaic frames. She had a striking photo with birch trees, the white and black colored trunks were centered in the photo, but it didn’t stop there. The trees were also part of the broken white and black colored glass that was used for the frame. Hundreds of pieces of colored glass lined each photo. There was a picture of white and yellow daisies that continued past the picture, letting the frame in on some of the fun. She had a summer beach scene with old and worn fencing which ended in the photo to both the left and right. McGuire continued the fences by cutting small pieces of wood and wire to the edge. The bottom of the photo had brown colored sand, so the frame had brown glass mosaic pieces. A dragon fly photo had many, many different colors of green to match the shiny silver color of the dragon fly’s wings. The crowd gasped as McGuire said, “It takes me close to 40 hours per picture that you see here.”

 

To view the photography/mosaic work of Natalie McGuire, go to her website at: nmcguirestudio@gmail.com. To find Heidi Jueb and her paintings, go to www.heijeuarts.org, otherwise visit both of their artwork at the Waseca Art Center at 200 North State Street.