In the Center for the Arts, the current art showcase in the Wigley-Fleming Gallery exhibits art pieces from multiple alumni, with mediums ranging from acrylic paint to wood carvings. Included in the exhibit are alumni artists Iris Cazilia D’Cruz, Jacob Mans, Maeve Gathje, Brian Perry and Carly Ellefsen.
Iris Cazilia D’Cruz (‘20) is an artist based out of Des Moines who focuses on the themes of life through the use of mixing mediums like acrylic, watercolor, ink and objects crafted from nature. Since graduating in 2020, D’Cruz has been active in the Des Moines art community where she is a member of Paint Pushers. This group comes together once a month and helps promote artists in the city. Her art at Luther includes acrylic and graphite on wood panels.
Jacob Mans (‘05) is an architect, licensed contractor and associate professor of architecture at the University of Minnesota. He not only holds a degree from Luther College, but also from the University of Cincinnati and Harvard University. His architecture ranges from small homes to public bathhouses, and connects building performances with the health of the land. Mans’research focuses on wood construction, forest management and community health. The architecture was showcased in video form in the exhibit.
Maeve Gathje (‘15) is an artist based in Rochester, Minnesota who works with wood, stone and traditional materials. Small, wooden characters painted with milk paint were showcased, though her talents don’t end there. Gathje is a full time sculptor and has permanent installations in monumental stone and cut tile throughout Minnesota. “My work is rooted in folk art, art of the people, that draws upon my Norwegian ancestry — a cultural past as well as a figment of imagination,” said Gathje, from her artist biography. “I see these carvings as artifacts of reclamation—a queering of craft in a literal and figurative sense.”
Brian Perry (‘05) is a painter, musician and teacher from Prior Lake, Minnesota. He has a fascination with the wide, open skies over the fields of Iowa having grown up here which is evident in his work showcased in the Wigley-Fleming Gallery. He has been a high school art teacher for eighteen years in the Twin Cities area. “Impermanence, change, control and chaos are all themes I explore in my abstract landscape paintings,” said Perry.
Carly Ellefsen (‘15) is an artist living in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Her art included in the exhibit expresses her own physical and mental states. She balances a communications role in political advocacy as well as her illustration, design and painting work. She has a way to build those expressions into her “I use classic design principles applied to oil painting to achieve holistic, layered compositions that visually hold the energy of the ‘mental load’ of trying to get through the day,” says Ellefsen, from her artist biography.
All of these artists come from different backgrounds and have goals in their lives that influence their work and the mediums they utilize. Their artwork can be viewed through October 4th at the Wigley-Fleming Gallery located in the Center for the Arts.
