Center Gallery features abstract impressionist Kellner
By Allison Stupka
Sun contributor
On August 3, Center Gallery at Glen Arbor’s Lake Street Studios welcomes painter Justin Kellner.
Because of the extraordinary excitement for the Glen Arbor Art Center’s annual plein air paint out, we at Center Gallery were looking to exhibit something a little different during that weekend. We wanted something that had a tie to the landscape, but not explicitly so.
A Grand Rapids favorite, Kellner’s paintings are a compelling mix of abstract impressionism and realism.
His paintings are intriguing patterns of light infused color juxtaposed with an exquisitely rendered bird in the foreground. The background could be water, a forest, a field, maybe even a dune. Kellner’s paintings make one think about the bird’s life. Its surroundings become more than just the scene in back of the creature, but become a place the bird may dwell for a time, be it migrating through or nesting, feeding and protecting its young.
He describes himself as a painter and an environmentalist. He was raised fishing, hunting, camping and swimming. These days when he is not in the studio, he enjoys camping and birding with his family. In a recent interview Kellner stated, “Most birds I paint are either endangered, threatened, or drastically declining. Maybe creating an interest in birding will connect someone with nature.”
A reception for Kellner will be held Friday, Aug. 2, from 6-8 p.m. and his paintings will be displayed August 2-8 at Center Gallery at Lake Street Studios.
Center Gallery features painter Frank Speyers from Aug. 9-15 with an opening reception Friday, Aug. 9, from 6-8 p.m.
Speyers was first introduced to Leelanau as an Artist in Residence in 2009. After teaching design as a language for 30 years at Calvin College he returned to painting fulltime. He has taught plein air painting in Leelanau, participated in the annual paint out in Glen Arbor but has exhibited largely out west where his work was published in Cowboys & Indians magazine. Speyers is largely concerned with the transcendent in his work.
“For this show I am planning on 20 small oil paintings,” said Speyers. “These will be studio work with several Plein Air works from my experiences visiting Leelanau during the various seasons, sketching and photographing similar locations. The works will be primarily of Leelanau landscapes, roads and skies. The theme for this show is: M22 Roads & skies.”
Lake Street Studios Center Gallery is open daily from 11 a.m.-5 p.m. For information call 231-334-3179 or visit LakeStreetStudiosGlenArbor.com.
