McKinley Arts & Culture Center: Gallery West
May 1st – June 16th, 2017
Reception: May 4th, 2017, 5-7pm

Animalia: Jennifer Wildermuth Reyes

Gallery West in McKinley Arts & Culture Center hosts interdisciplinary artist Jennifer Wildermuth Reyes. Wildermuth Reyes received her BFA from University of Wisconsin, Madison, and an MFA degree from the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. She resides in the Santa Cruz Mountains, which led her making a long series of wildlife paintings, after years of studying other expressions of two-dimensional art. Her current pieces are thoughtfully and intentionally placed against colorful geometric patterns, resulting in pieces that draw both on her current exposure to the natural world, and her past experience in urban living and artistic study.

Her work focuses primarily on animals, and how they correspond to development of human culture and thought-process. Her belief is that animals have been essential to mankind’s growth and contentment, and that direct encounters with them evoke wonder and respect. The exhibit places emphasis, with her rich and colorful paintings, on temporarily pausing life and creating sacred spaces for these animals.