Wild Things is an homage to the natural world, and the creatures in it, as expressed in the collages by Benzie County artist Claudia Keglovitz. This small show in the GAAC’s Lobby Gallery runs September 5 – December 15, 2024.
Claudia’s delight in her subject goes back to childhood. She grew up in Southeastern Michigan, within bicycling distance of the Detroit Zoo. The zoo became the place where she first started thinking about non-human creatures, and directly observing and experiencing other wild things.
True to the spirit of collage – the medium and the approach — Claudia is an inveterate recycler who never saw a barn door or a piece of scrap metal or fabric that did not have potential. Even garbage, which “I’ve literally found on a trail or the beach or parking lot”; vintage materials sourced from thrift shop; tin cans; hand-me-down T-shirts: What new life and meaning can the artist invest in the multitude of things headed for the landfill? she asks. Almost every aspect and element of her compositions are created from recycled, reused, and found materials. The materials she works with cannot be found in the art supply big box.
Claudia taught art in the public school for 30 years in Southeastern Michigan. Ever the teacher, the collages in Wild Things are deeply-layered compositions that are intended to be viewed from afar, and up close, studied and dissected, then reassembled in the mind for new understanding of the stories they tell, and the messages they convey.