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I am a painter/mixed media artist originally from South Central Nebraska and currently living and working in Sheboygan, WI. I earned a BFA in Printmaking from the University of Nebraska – Lincoln and an MFA in Painting from the Pennsylvania State University. Graduate school was followed by 31 years of teaching art on the college/university level. 27 of those years were spent teaching art at Lakeland College – now Lakeland University. I also taught at Keystone College in La Plume, PA, Benedictine College in Atchison, KS and Louisiana State University – Shreveport.
My artwork has been exhibited in over one hundred solo, group, and competitive exhibitions across the United States as well as exhibitions in Tokyo, Botswana, Kenya, and Shanghai. I am represented by Riverwood Gallery in Eau Claire, WI, Five 3 Gallery in Laguna Beach, CA, Gallery 218 in Milwaukee, WI, and various online venues. I have two solo exhibitions coming up this fall. One at L.E. Phillips Library in Eau Claire followed by a solo show at the Thelma Sadoff Center for the Arts in Fond du Lac, WI.
My artwork has been placed in several private and public permanent collections including the Concourse Hotel in Madison, WI, the Johnson Wax Corporation in Racine, WI, Shanghai Finance College, Lakeland University in Sheboygan, WI, University of Nebraska – Lincoln, Northwestern Mutual Insurance Co. in Milwaukee, Private Bank in St. Charles, IL, and Northern Trust Bank in Milwaukee, to name just a few.
My artwork has been exhibited in over one hundred solo, group, and competitive exhibitions across the United States as well as exhibitions in Tokyo, Botswana, Kenya, and Shanghai. I am represented by Riverwood Gallery in Eau Claire, WI, Five 3 Gallery in Laguna Beach, CA, Gallery 218 in Milwaukee, WI, and various online venues. I have two solo exhibitions coming up this fall. One at L.E. Phillips Library in Eau Claire followed by a solo show at the Thelma Sadoff Center for the Arts in Fond du Lac, WI.
My artwork has been placed in several private and public permanent collections including the Concourse Hotel in Madison, WI, the Johnson Wax Corporation in Racine, WI, Shanghai Finance College, Lakeland University in Sheboygan, WI, University of Nebraska – Lincoln, Northwestern Mutual Insurance Co. in Milwaukee, Private Bank in St. Charles, IL, and Northern Trust Bank in Milwaukee, to name just a few.
The Interview
At what point in your life did you know that you wanted to become an artist? Did the realization emerge slowly?
The realization that I am an artist has always been a part of my psyche. I had an older sister who was also an artist and we were always making things, drawing, painting, etc. It never occurred to me that wasn’t an artist.
How did you evolve your style and favorite mediums?
After years of painting and drawing representational landscapes, I began a conscious move to more and more abstraction in those images. To kick start my move to complete abstraction, I spent a week at an abstract painting workshop in Florida, where I knew I wouldn’t be tempted to fall back on my representational crutch. At that time, I was using a variety of acrylic mediums on canvas. It was also at this time that I became interested in oil and cold wax medium. I discovered that one of the best-known cold wax artists, Rebecca Crowell, lived about 20 miles from me. I contacted her and bought her comprehensive book on cold wax techniques and dove in. Oil and cold wax, along with oil paintsticks is now my favorite medium to work with. The layering and uncovering process brings me back to my printmaking roots.
What are your time management techniques? Do you have regular working hours...or favorite times to work?
Because my studio is in my apartment – I can work about any time of the day, any day of the week. I often work in the morning but find myself back in the studio in the afternoon as well. My studio is home to me.
Do you work on more than one piece at a time, or primarily just on one?
I usually have at least 3 pieces going at the same time. I focus on one piece but apply any leftover paint to the other 2 panels, just to get them started. I waste very little paint.
What would you say is your biggest influence--that which keeps you working, regardless of all else, your most steadfast motivation?
I just have a drive to make art – it’s so much a part of my identity that everything else seems foreign or unimportant to me. I’d rather be in my studio more than anywhere else. Rare is the time that I can’t find the motivation and inspiration to paint.
Does trying something new and not knowing the rules -- the boundary pushing -- create anxiety or excitement in you? (Or both?)
Mostly excitement – I love to push the boundaries, use mediums the ‘wrong’ way just to see what happens. The less safe my process is – the more exciting it is to me.
Do you enjoy having the "duality of both chaos and control" or are you happiest with a set plan?
A set plan is a buzzkill for me. I begin each painting with absolutely no plan or thought about making a particular image. Control for me is also kind of loose. I would say that my years of being an artist and teaching art have ingrained a sense of compositional balance in my process. So I roughly balance paintings, enough to make the chaos look more intentional than it really is.
Do you have any projects or events forthcoming?
I will be featuring 6 paintings in a Wisconsin Visual Artist Showcase this summer – being held at the Cedarburg Cultural Center. Additionally, I have 2 solo exhibits coming up in the fall. One of the exhibits will be in the L.E. Phillips Library in Eau Claire, WI and the other will be in the Thelma Sadoff Center for the Arts in Fond du Lac, WI. I often have a piece or two in regional, national, and international juried competitions in additional to any of the larger exhibits.
Back Alley
acrylic, oil and cold wax on panel
36x36
acrylic, oil and cold wax on panel
36x36
Coincide
oil and cold wax on panel
42x72
oil and cold wax on panel
42x72
Collage
oil, cold wax and mixed media on panel
48x48
oil, cold wax and mixed media on panel
48x48
Company's Coming
oil and cold wax on canvas
40x30
oil and cold wax on canvas
40x30
Copacetica
Acrylic, oil, cold wax on panel
36x36
Happenstance
oil and cold wax on panel
42x42
oil and cold wax on panel
42x42
Contact the artist directly:
Denise Presnell
[email protected]
www.denisepresnell.com
https://www.instagram.com/denisepresnell
https://www.facebook.com/DDPresnell
Denise Presnell
[email protected]
www.denisepresnell.com
https://www.instagram.com/denisepresnell
https://www.facebook.com/DDPresnell