'Roots of Reality' exhibit arrives at Daughtrey Gallery
Artist Paul Wolber explores, celebrates different perspectives, cultures in his painting exhibition
Mary Petrides
Issue date: 3/5/09 Section: Arts
Venetian canals, Chinese mountains and other Eastern and Western memories hang framed in Sage Center for the Arts Daughtrey Gallery's newest exhibit, "Roots of Reality: East and West." The exhibit opened Feb. 22.
"It's a comparison of those two kinds of cultural ways of seeing and thinking," said artist Paul Wolber, twice-retired from Spring Arbor University.
"[Wolber's] exhibit features both the familiar and the unfamiliar," Professor of Art Sam Knecht wrote in an e-mail to The Collegian. "His Midwestern barns and architectural subjects are the kinds of things we see everywhere in this region. Elsewhere he ventures into the exotic reaches of China and Italy to treat subjects that have integrity of construction, whether grand or humble."
Many of Wolber's paintings feature Eastern and Western architecture, especially Chinese Dong houses and Midwestern barns. Wolber said he saw architectural similarities on the two continents.
"Dong people built their houses just like the Amish people build barns here now," he said.
As a young boy, Wolber began drawing and painting with the tools his mother gave him in church, "probably to keep me quiet," he said.
Wolber said he found that he always kept coming back to painting and decided to make it his career. He studied art in college and went on to teach painting at Spring Arbor.
Wolber taught art at Sichuan Education College in Chengdu, China through Spring Arbor's professor exchange program in 1998. Since then, he has spent three years teaching art in China.
He said his experiences in China changed his perspective on the world, but he did not adopt an Eastern style of painting.
"When I was in China, I wasn't trying to paint like a Chinese person would paint. I was just painting with the perspective of being in a different culture," he said.
Wolber continues to visit China about every other year with his Chinese wife, whom he met on one of his trips.
"It's a comparison of those two kinds of cultural ways of seeing and thinking," said artist Paul Wolber, twice-retired from Spring Arbor University.
"[Wolber's] exhibit features both the familiar and the unfamiliar," Professor of Art Sam Knecht wrote in an e-mail to The Collegian. "His Midwestern barns and architectural subjects are the kinds of things we see everywhere in this region. Elsewhere he ventures into the exotic reaches of China and Italy to treat subjects that have integrity of construction, whether grand or humble."
Many of Wolber's paintings feature Eastern and Western architecture, especially Chinese Dong houses and Midwestern barns. Wolber said he saw architectural similarities on the two continents.
"Dong people built their houses just like the Amish people build barns here now," he said.
As a young boy, Wolber began drawing and painting with the tools his mother gave him in church, "probably to keep me quiet," he said.
Wolber said he found that he always kept coming back to painting and decided to make it his career. He studied art in college and went on to teach painting at Spring Arbor.
Wolber taught art at Sichuan Education College in Chengdu, China through Spring Arbor's professor exchange program in 1998. Since then, he has spent three years teaching art in China.
He said his experiences in China changed his perspective on the world, but he did not adopt an Eastern style of painting.
"When I was in China, I wasn't trying to paint like a Chinese person would paint. I was just painting with the perspective of being in a different culture," he said.
Wolber continues to visit China about every other year with his Chinese wife, whom he met on one of his trips.
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