Keeler Gallery at Fountain Street Church will have an exhibit featuring the paintings of Sheryl Budnik, a talented Alpine Township artist. Her paintings include a series of Alpine Township landscapes. The exhibit opens on Sunday, April 5,and will run through mid May. The show will be called "No Place Like Home" and will have a little reference to Oz and how we who live here must treasure our view, our land - even under threat of developers and the occasional tornado.The painting she is currently working on is of the Palm Sunday tornado of 1965. Sunday parking is free at GRCC. You are invited to the opening reception with the artist on Sunday, April 5, from 12 Noon until 2:00 PM.
Winter Solstice Moon
Sumac and New Trees
Spring on Peach Ridge
September Fire
Peaches at Night
Alpine Ridge OZ"Over the years I have taken drives through the Ridge to enjoy a sunset and pay attention to the change of seasons. I started photographing the area and planning some paintings. It was interesting, trucks rushing home would barrel up behind my little car and whizz by. But if I was stopped by the side of the road taking pictures, a driver would stop to see if I needed help. Great people, these Alpine Ridge folks. So this is why I wanted to paint and capture my images of The Ridge before they are lost forever."
Name of show:
There’s No Place Like Home,
Paintings inspired by the Alpine Ridge
April 5 - May 17, 2009
OPENING reception with the artist
Sunday, April 5 12 - 2 pm at Keeler Gallery
KEELER GALLERY, Fountain Street Church,
24 Fountain St. NE
Grand Rapids MI 49503
616.459.8386
Gallery hours:
M. - F. 9:00 - 4:00
Sun. 10:00 - 1:00
Open parking Sunday GRCC lot
Paintings are 2008 / 2009.
September Fire, oil on canvas, 40 x 30”
Spring on Peach Ridge, oil on canvas, 40 x 30”
Sumac and New Trees, oil on canvas, 36 x 16”
Winter Solstice, oil on canvas, 30 x 40”
Alpine Ridge OZ, oil on canvas, wood rail and letters, 48” x 24”
Peaches at Night, oil on canvas, 20 x 16”
Old Apple Storage, oil on panel, 14 x 9”
Backyard Tree, oil on panel, 10 x 12”
October Blaze, oil on canvas 36 x 24”
Orchard Grass, oil on canvas, 15 x 12”
Orchard Tree, oil on canvas, 12 x 12”
Currently working on a tornado painting for the show that opens on the anniversary of the 1965 Palm Sunday tornado that went through the Alpine Ridge.
L. Frank Baum, 1900, “The Wonderful World of OZ” ....“and to the east (of Chicago), a green utopia, a mixed forest and farmland...”
The Alpine Ridge has been my home since 1985. Known for its orchards and farms, the Township in which this “green utopia” is located is bordered by Four Mile Road, Kenowa Avenue, 10-mile Road and Division Ave. While the region has slowly opened up to new homes, the Ridge still shelters many centennial farms and fruit orchards. The vista is changing and farms are slowly disappearing. Sometimes a tornado unpredictably scars the landscape and changes our past.
Over the years I have taken drives through the Ridge to enjoy a sunset and pay attention to the change of seasons. I started photographing the area and planning some paintings. It was interesting, trucks rushing home would barrel up behind my little car and whizz by. But if I was stopped by the side of the road taking pictures, a driver would stop to see if I needed help. Great people, these Alpine Ridge folks. So this is why I wanted to paint and capture my images of The Ridge before they are lost forever.
L. Frank Baum was telling his story about a wonderful place and, looking at a file cabinet labeled O–Z, he named his new book ‘The Wonderful Land of OZ’. Scholars reference the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair as an inspiration for his OZ or Emerald City, “...and to the east, a green utopia, a mixed forest and farmland”.* Baum’s message in OZ is “No matter how humble, there’s no place like home”.* I claim a bit of OZ for my paintings, and ‘there’s no place like home.’
Artist: Sheryl Budnik
464 Four Mile Rd. NW
Comstock Park, MI 49321
616.784.2586
sherylbudnikart@yahoo.com
Grand Rapids Junior College
BFA - Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor
MFA - Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison
Born in Grand Rapids
2 grown children in the Grand Rapids area
4 step children (raised in Wisconsin)
Returned to Grand Rapids in 1985
(1985-1988) Taught at Kendall College of Art & Design & Aquinas College as adjunct art instructor
1988 - 20 years at The Grand Rapids Press as creative designer in advertising
