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Wunderlich's exhibit of sculptures, paintings on display in Monmouth College's Everett Gallery through Oct. 25

by Barry McNamara

Monmouth, Ill. (10/01/2024) — Monmouth College professor Janis Mars Wunderlich has had her award-winning art featured at shows around the nation, but no travel is required to see her latest exhibit.

Wunderlich's "Woman in the Woods" exhibit of 22 sculpture pieces and 11 paintings is now on display in Monmouth's Len G. Everett Gallery on the upper level of the college's Hewes Library. The exhibit is on display through Oct. 25, when Wunderlich will present her artist's talk at the closing reception, which begins at 3 p.m.

The exhibit and reception are both free and open to the public.

"I'm learning to sit still in nature, to let it surround me, calm me and speak to me," said Wunderlich of her latest works. "My Cherokee grandfather taught me that every living thing has a spirit and is connected. ... My grandfather no longer walks on the earth; he has been absorbed by it. Now, every time I sit in the woods, I hear his voice and remember his stories."

Her step-grandfather, Edwin George, was a folk artist, and he's been an inspiration for her works, as well as ancient ceramic story-telling figurines.

"We have always used myth and metaphor to explore and explain our existence," said Wunderlich. "The art and origin stories of ancient cultures illustrate this instinctive search for meaning. In my art, I try to connect universal human narratives to what I witness in the woods: natural cycles of growth, decay and regeneration."

Wunderlich's ceramic sculptures and paintings are in distinguished private and museum collections throughout the world, including Taiwan's Yingge Ceramics Museum and The American Museum of Ceramic Art in California. She is the recipient of many awards, including artist fellowships from arts councils in Illinois and Ohio, as well as the Virginia A. Groot Foundation. She was also showcased in the documentary film Who Does She Think She Is?

A member of Monmouth's art faculty since 2017, Wunderlich teaches courses in ceramics, creative processes and art history.

Wunderlich also has work on display at the McLean Art Center in Bloomington, Illinois, along with the several other local artists, who refer to themselves as the "art sisters" - Chris Dokalasa, Lori Reed, Mary Schuytema, Linda Sickmon and Rae Ann Standard. The exhibition runs through the end of October. Wunderlich also has a sculpture on view in Monmouth at the 64 Arts national exhibition at the Buchanan Center for the Arts, 64 Public Square. She recently had an exhibition at Baldwin Wallace University in Berea, Ohio.

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"I’m learning to sit still in nature, to let it surround me, calm me and speak to me,” said artist Janis Mars Wunderlich.

Works of art by professor Janis Mars Wunderlich can be seen all over the country and even internationally, but her latest exhibit, "Woman in the Woods" is right on Monmouth's campus.

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