For creatives, the journey of making art is an evolution — a representation of not only a body of work, but the innermost thoughts, feelings and expressions of that artist that capture a moment in time.
The Dubuque Museum of Art is in the final week of housing its latest exhibition, embracing that very theme, at its current site.
Next month, the organization will move to its temporary location in the Dupaco Voices building in Dubuque’s Historic Millwork District as construction gets underway on its new campus at 701 Locust St.
That project is slated for completion in 2027.
The exhibition, “Odyssey: The Voyage of Gerit Grimm,” will be on display through June 8. Guest curated by Hieyler Pimpton, it features a collection of Madison, Wis.-based ceramic artist Grimm’s work, spanning 2002 through 2023.
“When I stumbled upon Gerit’s work, I knew I wanted to showcase her,” said Pimpton, who formerly owned and operated a small gallery in Dubuque before recently relocating to Atlanta. “It was a lengthy process and took a couple of years to bring the whole show together, but it was well worth it. It’s so detail-oriented. I’ve never seen anything like it. I think, for people in Dubuque, it will be really incredible to see.”
With roots in East Germany, Grimm came into orbit with ceramics as a young adult working in a factory as a production potter. The job helped her to hone her skillset, as well as planted the seed of pursuing pottery studies in the U.S.
Initially earning an art design diploma in 2001, studying ceramics at Burg Giebichenstein in Halle, Germany, Grimm was awarded that same year with the German DAAD Government Grant for the University of Michigan School of Art and Design, from which she graduated with Master of Arts degree in 2002.
She would go on to receive a Master of Fine Arts degree from the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University in 2004.
After numerous teaching positions and residencies, she now serves as an associate professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. However, her work continues to be showcased in collections across the globe.
“I always go about an exhibition creating work by asking the question, ‘What would I want to see?’” Grimm said. “But when approached for this exhibition, I already had so much work that I had created. It’s a full-circle, full life cycle exhibition.”
Creating a visual narrative of Grimm’s journey as an artist, the career-spanning retrospective of her exhibition at the Dubuque Museum of Art includes 22 pieces, ranging from early sketches to small- and large-scale ceramic creations, including one life-sized figure.
“The gallery space is a smaller one, so honestly, I didn’t know how it would appear,” Grimm said. “But how it came together is very impressive. It’s like walking through different eras of the work I completed as an artist at different times of my life, beginning with the drawing of a sail boat and moving through the various stages of my work as a ceramic artist. Each piece is like looking into a tiny prism of who I am.”
The overarching theme of the exhibition, exploring an artist’s creative voyage, is further represented through the work of two additional female artists.
Complementing Grimm’s exhibition is the work of two Dubuque-based creatives, ceramic artist Jenni Brant and painter Stina Joy Henslee.
Brant’s collection, “Formed in the Land of Fire & Ice,” offers a timelined approach to the 28 creations that resulted from her recent artist-in-residency in Iceland, representing not only an artistic journey, but a literal one.
Vessels and wearable ceramic works of art intermingle with photographs, designs and journal entries that reflect upon her experience.
Also included in Brant’s portion of the exhibition is a “touch table” for younger patrons to color and create.
“The experience challenged my approach to the art I make,” said the former City of Dubuque Arts & Cultural Affairs manager. “Stepping outside of your comfort zone in a new place and surrounded by other artists promotes the opportunity for growth.”
Henslee’s “Stretched Thin: Visual Musings on Tension,” includes a collection of 10 paintings that make use of a variety of materials to represent the complex relationship between tension, relief and the anxiety that results from living during unsettled times.
Some paintings expand beyond frames of the canvases, making use of the museum’s wall, with the current structure due for demolition.
“I’d been working on these pieces for about two years,” said Henslee, who twice has had her work included in the museum’s annual Biennial exhibition, in 2021 being an honorable mention award-winner. “Each explore the universal theme of tension and how it intertwines with our everyday lives. There’s a connectivity in that. Everyone feels it.”
Dubuque Museum of Art Curatorial Director Stacy Peterson said the collective of the trio of exhibitions also serves to mirror the museum’s journey as it looks toward its new facility.
“It’s an interesting way to examine the journey of three artists,” she said. “And as our final exhibition inside these walls before moving to our temporary space, it does represent a little of our own journey and evolution forward.”
Megan Gloss writes for the Telegraph Herald.
