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Photographs by Scott Helgeson and
sculptures by Peter Zelle
on view in the Gallery, May 6-June 27, 2012

Please join us for an artists' reception on Sunday, May 6, after worship.

Artist’s Statement by Scott Helgeson
I’ve been passionate about photography ever since my Mother bought me a Voite lander rangefinder camera when I was 12 years old. Next came a Mamyia Seekor with two lenses. By the time I was in high school, I earned enough to buy the legendary Nikon SLR with a 35mm and 105mm lens. For many years I used this while pursuing wilderness expeditions with The National Outdoor Leadership School, taking month-long courses in the Wind Rivers' region, Prince William Sound and other mountain regions. It was during those rigorous trips into the wild that I developed a love of mountains and the deep spirituality found while in their presence.

Now with high-resolution digital cameras, I can make images at a grand scale that were impossible with 35mm film. The absence of matting, frame and glass and sheer size makes these images more immediate and experiential. It is that inexplicable attraction I have to wilderness of rock and snow, desert and sandstone, and of the untamed Lake Superior that I wish to share with others by these 13 large images.   These photographs, all taken in the last 12 months, are visual statements that best convey the sense of mystery, awe, and love I have with wilderness. I hope you, too, can feel the beauty of these places and be inspired to visit these areas and to work to protect what little wilderness that remains for all generations.

Artist Peter Zelle's bio
Sculptor Peter Zelle has worked with glass, clay and steel for 30 years. Explaining the early inspiration for his work, he recalls the wisdom of one of his teachers who suggested, “Living is the greatest art of all, and out of that comes the art product.” At 15, he witnessed the example of a creative life by observing his father’s great uncle, the sculptor/painter Peter Krasnow in his home and studio, then in his 90s and still making new works and living creatively. Zelle had just begun working with clay, and at that point, he chose the direction for his own life.

After studying with Dale Chihuly at the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, Zelle earned a BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design.  An apprenticeship with noted glass sculptor Howard Ben Tre prepared him for establishing Zelle Glass Studio in Minneapolis in 1992. Zelle’s list of public and private installations is lengthy, as is his list of commissioned works and gallery exhibitions across the country.  

Zelle approaches his work intuitively, responding to the way materials interact with one another in space. One recent series of sculptures combines glass and steel to form houses. These houses explore the nature of domestic demarcations—the boundaries between inside and outside, shelter and exposure, inclusion and exclusion.

Other works are life-size abstract pieces of welded steel and cast glass. What interests Zelle is this notion of uniqueness and the individual way each piece activates space. As he adds and removes materials, he plays with the fine line between sculpture and ornamentation, defining the abstract as opposed to the decorative.

Zelle recently has begun his most exciting and challenging series of works to date. Having spent a full year designing and building a large glass kiln, he is creating 7-foot cast glass pieces, exploring glass on a whole new scale. He says, “I am doing something I have never done before and could only dream of doing. I experience the freedom of painting when I am cutting shapes and spreading colored glass powders into spaces larger than myself.”

 

by Scott Helgeson

 
Peter Zelle and artwork