"Wegner Then and Now"
James Wegner has established himself as the artist most associated with Austin Minnesota. Through countless exhibitions and a long teaching career (giving art instruction at what is now Riverland Community College for 28 years, and before that for 10 years at Austin Jr. and Sr. High Schools), Wegner is very well known and highly respected within the local community and beyond. The Riverland Community College art gallery is named in his honor. His own formal education included study with legendary masters including Richard Diebenkorn, Max Weber and Dong Kingman. Wegner’s artwork is in the permanent collections of the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis Institute of Arts, the Tweed Gallery in Duluth, as well as the McNeider Museum in Mason City.
“Wegner Then and Now” is a retrospective of selected works spanning the artist’s entire career. The show includes dramatic sculptures done in the early 1960’s, through two-dimensional work from every decade since, right up until the artist’s most recent efforts. The exhibit shows the influence of several historical artistic styles, all adapted to Wegner’s personal interests and inspirations. The viewer will witness a visual chronicle of an artistic life of ceaseless exploration and joyful creation, expressed in a diverse range of media including paintings, prints and collage. Throughout both representational and abstract styles, an interest in strong shape and sensitive attention to color and texture are evident.
