Contemplating Nature at Kaddatz Galleries
Artwork by Morris artist Jenny Nellis featured
The Kaddatz Galleries announces the opening of their next exhibition by Morris area artist Jenny Nellis. The show, titled Contemplating Nature, opens Tuesday, September 12 and will be on view through October 28, 2023. A public reception will take place on Thursday, September 21, 2023 from 5-7PM in the Main Gallery.
Jenny Nellis is an artist who taught at the Morris campus of the University of Minnesota for 35 years at the time of her retirement in December 2011. Nellis describes herself as “an object maker, a sculptor, a translator of ideas and things from one medium to another for consideration and contemplation.” From her perspective “so much of our designed and constructed world is based on the successful and elegant designs of nature.”
Nellis works in a variety of materials and techniques, primarily three dimensional, and also collage and drawing. “I like the tactile quality of forms and materials. I like the repetitive chip, chip, chipping away at wood, the malleability of clay, wax and wool.”
Contemplating Nature features a range of works honoring the intersection of art and science including a 42-piece series of collages focused on textures, colors, forms and shapes found in nature featuring tiny seeds, seedpods, leaf and flower buds, flower parts, and other plant and insect fragments. Also included in this exhibition are large-scale basswood carvings inspired by seed pods and nature elements.
Nellis has experienced a prolific career through education and the arts, exhibiting her work locally, regionally and nationally. She is a Morse/Alumni Distinguished Teaching Professor of Studio Art Emeriti, a member of the Academy of Distinguished Teachers, served as Assistant Academic Dean for students and Chair of the Division of Humanities, and currently serves on the Board of the Lake Region Arts Council.
About Kaddatz Galleries
The Kaddatz Galleries is a not-for-profit organization that exists to foster visual arts education and appreciation and to maintain a gallery that celebrates the work of area artists and honors the legacy of Charles Beck. The Kaddatz is in downtown Fergus Falls, Minnesota. Its main gallery presents focused exhibitions and a rotating selection of work by regional artists. Studio K, the Kaddatz’s secondary gallery and community meeting space, displays smaller or more experimental bodies of work by established and emerging artists. There is never a charge to enter the galleries. Additionally, the Kaddatz regularly offers visual arts workshops and other educational opportunities to make art experiences accessible to diverse audiences and participants.