— “Art Fusion” is the name of the newest exhibit in the Evansville Art Center Gallery. It is a collaboration between visual artists Olivia Hoppe and Beth Jacobson, whose dissimilar media and techniques bring a true feast for the eyes.
Hoppe grew up taking as many different art classes as she could at Aitkin High School and later at Central Lakes College in Brainerd. She also learned a lot from her father, who did a variety of mountain man/American Indian crafts. She and her husband live on a farm near Miltona.
Hoppe does a combination of pen and ink drawing with either acrylic paint, watercolor, or colored pencil added in depending on the surface she is working on. Those surfaces include wood slabs from her husband’s sawmill, cattle bones from their farm or locally sourced, and hardshell gourds that she grows and processes. She also forages for materials like sticks, birch bark, deer horns, and whatever else she feels she can find a use for in her work.
Jacobson has been painting since the 1960s. In recent years she has focused on acrylic Americana paintings and pastel portraits, but she also does landscapes.
Her education included The Famous Artist Schools and 3 years of commercial art when moving to the country changed her goals for a season. She then turned to the fine arts.
Jacobson says she observed many older artists doing beautiful work, so she knew she could return to doing it in her retirement after raising 6 children.
“Art Fusion” opened on Friday, May 29 and runs through June 27. It may be seen during select Wednesday’s New Arts Café (watch for more information coming soon), Thursdays from 3 to 6:30 p.m., and Fridays and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. There will be an artist reception on Friday, June 12 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.
Evansville Art Center is located at 111 Main St. in Evansville.
This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through grants from the Lake Region Arts Council thanks to a legislative appropriation from the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund and in part through a Minnesota State Legislative General Fund appropriation.
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