by Tracie Tuttle–Two new art exhibits recently opened up at the Sioux City Art Center.
One is “Feminine Attempts” by Vermillion artist Klaire Lockheart. The show consists of 12 life-size oil portraits of women wearing a questionable combination of bizarre high heeled boots and aprons, all while doing household chores. Each woman is also wearing an intimidating and unpleasant expression while staring at the viewer, cementing her dissatisfaction with her homemaking role.
Lockheart said she was inspired to create this series after painting Feminine Attempt #1 (Dishes) for a self-portrait assignment in her graduate painting course at the University of South Dakota. She said that she wanted to “make a broader statement about the imbalance between the expectations and the reality for what women are supposed to be in our time.”
The other art exhibit is “Stories– Raw and Cooked” by Sioux City artist Pauline Sensenig. This show involves several, larger-than-life portrait paintings of a variety of foods including potatoes, chocolates, french fries, onions, and much more. The show also presents a series of cupcake paintings, where the artist said she wanted to paint portraits of her real-life friends, but as the sweet dessert.
After enjoying a dinner of Italian food, Sensenig said she was inspired to start creating paintings of cooked foods, rather than just her previous depictions of vegetables. Because of the monumental nature of her food portraits, her work “takes on meanings that are beyond that of subsistence or sustenance,” and captures “poignant moments, friends, and the joy of eating.”
Both exhibits are on display until February 2nd in the new and improved gallery space on the third floor of the Sioux City Art Center. The Sioux City Art Center is located at 225 Nebraska Street in Downtown Sioux City and is free and open to the public. The center is open Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from 10 am to 4 pm, Thursdays from 10 am to 9 pm, and Sundays from 1 pm to 4 pm.
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