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<strong>DIS</strong>COVER! | JULY 16, 2016<br />
| 23<br />
Chapman continues to grow and develop her<br />
work.<br />
For now check out her very first gallery show<br />
in the Weaver Lobby Gallery and McIlrath Landing<br />
Gallery. It’s a debut not to be missed.<br />
Follow another set of stairs to the lower<br />
level of the Pearson Lakes Art Center and another<br />
first-timer has a show in the John & Karen<br />
Goodenow Gallery.<br />
Danielle Clouse Gast’s work is familiar to<br />
many in the Iowa Great Lakes area and she is no<br />
stranger to the art center having worked as its<br />
visual arts director <strong>for</strong> a time. Some of her work<br />
has hung in the facility be<strong>for</strong>e, but believe it or<br />
not, this her first show there as a solo artist.<br />
“To have this show at Pearson is a big deal <strong>for</strong><br />
me and designing an exhibit <strong>for</strong> a place I care so<br />
much about has been so important to me at this<br />
point in my career,” Clouse Gast said.<br />
The first thing that strikes the viewer at the<br />
exhibit is the scale. Many of the paintings are<br />
several feet tall or wide or both.<br />
The next thing many will notice is the color<br />
palette. A lot of greens with some blues and an<br />
occasional other shade here or there.<br />
“For any painter it’s fun to go so big and with<br />
landscapes and especially these aerials it works<br />
best and is ultimately most successful on a large<br />
scale,” Clouse Gast said. “And the color palette<br />
has been a fun challenge introducing other colors<br />
including blues.”<br />
Clouse Gast’s landscapes are rendered in a<br />
more abstract, almost cubist, style that Clouse<br />
Gast said she’s always been drawn to in her artwork.<br />
It’s a technique that lends itself well to landscapes<br />
and really emphasizes the patterns inherent<br />
in Iowa Great Lakes area.<br />
In the past her landscapes have been mostly<br />
inspired by views seen from ground level. For<br />
this show, “From the Ground Up,” the viewpoint<br />
has shifted to the air. The title is both a<br />
play on words in regards to seeing things from<br />
the seat of an airplane as well as the challenge of<br />
trying something different.<br />
With a husband who is a pilot, Clouse Gast’s<br />
new work is a chance to see familiar scenes from<br />
a new perspective.<br />
“From that viewpoint there seemed to be<br />
paintings everywhere,” Clouse Gast said. “Some<br />
are more obvious than others and some are<br />
places we would often just drive past without<br />
thinking otherwise.”<br />
Working from photos she started painting<br />
last October and continued through May. While<br />
blizzards blanketed the landscapes outside,<br />
Clouse Gast jumped into the task of painting<br />
those aerial persectives full of summer colors.<br />
Several months of work have certainly paid<br />
off as “From the Ground Up” invites viewers to<br />
see their surroundings in the Iowa Great Lakes<br />
in a new way.<br />
“I hope it brings people a refreshed and innovative<br />
perspective on the area. I wanted it to be<br />
different from anything I’ve done but relatable<br />
to those familiar with my work,” Clouse Gast<br />
said. F<br />
Danielle Clouse Gast has an exhibit “From the Ground Up” currently on display at the Pearson<br />
Lakes Art Center. It will be on display though Aug. 13. PHOTOS BY RYLAN HOWE<br />
Okoboji | Iowa
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