RIPON, Wis. – Artist Lon Michels ’84 will feature his work in the Caestecker Art Gallery, C.J. Rodman Center for the Arts, April 6-May 13. The gallery opening is at 7 p.m. April 6 and is open to the public.
Michels’ artwork often features problems of today’s society because he believes art should have a social significance.
“Lon Michel’s paintings reveal and revel in life’s intensity … their dense patterns of shapes, lines and colors sparkle with magic, hope, love, passion and fun. The opposite of slick and cerebral, his paintings offer immediate visual pleasure in a labor-intensive technique based on the artist’s study of global art history,” said Evelyn Kain, chair of the Art Department at Ripon College. “It is a rare viewer who does not have a strong and immediate reaction to Michel’s intricate surfaces and voluptuous colors.”
Michels feels he was born with a spiritual quest and believes that it is his purpose to bring the miracles of people and places to the attention of others through his paintings. His pieces are extremely colorful and contain multiple intricate patterns.
As a student at Ripon College, Michels double-majored in art and anthropology-sociology. His artwork bears influences of both majors because his labor-intensive technique is based on his study of global art history. The subjects of Michels’ pieces often bear social commentary but he is always conscious of representing the beauty of men and women without stereotyping them.
In 2007, Michels received the honor of being nominated for the Joan Mitchell Award, which is a national prize that recognizes the most talented artists from prestigious institutions across the nation.
About Ripon College
Ripon College, founded in 1851, prepares students of diverse interests for lives of productive, socially responsible citizenship. Ripon’s liberal arts curriculum and residential campus create an intimate learning community in which students experience a richly personalized education. Ripon has been recognized as a “best value” and “Best 361 College” by The Princeton Review, a “Best Buy in College Education” by Barron’s, and among the 160 best schools in the nation by Colleges of Distinction. For more information about Ripon College, visit www.ripon.edu. |
