Sioux Center artist to exhibit work Sept. 18

The "Genesis Series" is the inaugural exhibit of the Orange City Arts Council's Touring Gallery series, and it will coincide with the performance of the Open Hands jazz ensemble.

Weidenaar, an artist from Sioux Center, studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. She has taught painting and drawing classes for Dordt, Northwestern and Northwest Iowa Community College. She has exhibited locally and on the East Coast, and, for a year, operated a gallery in Sioux Center. She is one of the featured artists at the Eastbank Gallery on 8th Street in Sioux Falls, S.D.

"In order to create something new, sometimes the old needs to be radically altered," says Weidenaar. That, she says, is how the "Genesis Series" came to be.

The first painting in the series started, ironically, as a realistic self portrait. "Through experimentation, intuition and improvisation, and by means of pouring, spraying and dripping thinned paint, it evolved into its present form."

The painting – "a new expression of myself" – brought to mind the words of Genesis, she says. "In the beginning ... the earth was formless ... and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters."

This led to the "Let there be ..." paintings. "Like jazz music's many moods, some of the paintings are bright and energetic, while others are quiet and poetic."

Weidenaar's exhibit will be available for public viewing from 10 a.m. through 10 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 18. The artist will be present prior to the 7:30 p.m. concert and again following the concert. There will be no charge to attend the exbibit.

The Touring Gallery, sponsored by the Orange City Arts Council, features local artists in public venues. Portable display panels were funded with a Sioux County Community Foundation grant. A grant from the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs will fund a coordinator for the project.

The Open Hands performance features renowned musicians Abraham Laboriel, Bill Maxwell, Justo Almario and Greg Mathieson of Los Angeles. For more information or tickets, contact the Orange City Arts Council, 712-707-4885.