Staff photos/Jane Howard Left: Tim Young (left) talks with Braidy Powers at the opening of the Anne Cervenka/Tim Young exhibit July 31, 2009 at Johnson Heritage Post in Grand Marais. On the wall behind him hangs some of his artwork. Right: Jean Lindell (left) visiting with Anne Cervenka at the exhibit opening. Left: Young’s work varies from passionate to whimsical. This series of dog paintings is definitely on the whimsical side. Below left: Cervenka’s exhibit at Johnson Heritage Post includes numerous blown-glass vases in many vibrant colors.
Passion, grace, depth, whimsy – many words could be used to describe the artwork of Tim Young and Anne Cervenka on exhibit at Johnson Heritage Post in Grand Marais through September 6, 2009. Both artists greeted guests at the show’s opening Friday, July 31 in the thick of Fisherman’s Picnic.
A four-panel mural of white pines and two totem paintings by Young greet guests as they enter the Johnson Heritage Post, hinting of places near and places far away.
Beside one of his Brotherhood totems is a glimpse into some of the many facets of Young’s history. He writes that he has four brothers, who are married to women from four different countries. Young grew up in Liberia, West Africa, and his daughter was born in the Pacific Islands. “They sometimes refer to people like me as ‘third culture kids,’ he writes. “I came from one culture and was raised in another, never quite fitting into either. This type of upbringing comes with many obstacles and many rewards, and in the end I accept my place in the brotherhood of man.”
The names of Young’s paintings are almost as intriguing as the paintings themselves, from The River That Swallows All Rivers with its wild swirl of fish to the dreamlike Falling Awake to a spiral of toy-like animals and figures in Somewhere the Zebra Was Still Dancing. References to Young’s youth in Africa show up in paintings such as The Congo River.
Young gives a glimpse into the way
in which he approaches a painting with his explanation of Clown Dog. As he was painting, he concentrated on “the blue dinosaur that seemed to be forming,” he wrote. “I didn’t even notice the deranged clown that was lurking just beneath the surface of the paint until it had been hanging on my wall for a day or two.”
Anne Cervenka, formerly of Cook County, returned for the show from her new home in Alaska. Her portion of the exhibit portrays a wide variety of abilities. On the walls were somewhat abstract paintings, some with thick strokes of exuberant
color, some with delicate lines and pastels.
On pedestals throughout the room are examples of Cervenka’s blown-glass vases in supple shapes, graceful, vibrant, looking a little like flowers and a little like flowing evening gowns.
A departure from Cervenka’s paintings and glass sculptures is a homey scene with a set of eight pair of knitted stockings, each making a simple statement with words: Devil’s Track, Steel Toe, No Roads, Sasquatch!, wwdjd? wdjd?, run run, blind lemon, and orteil rouge (“toe red,” directly translated from French).
Cervenka’s titles are also compelling: Adam’s Secret, Hallelujah Singing to the Band, The ice melted, the wind died down, and then one day the sun came out!
Each person’s experience of Young and Cervenka’s work is likely to be as unique as each work of art in the exhibit. While the viewer may not know exactly what the two artists felt and thought as they created each piece, he or she will not go away untouched or unmoved.
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