Exhibit Celebrates Marshfield’s Past, Present, and Future
May 11th marks the opening of the art exhibit “Marshfield: Past, Present, and Future” at Everett Roehl Public Library. All of the 143 featured works were created by eighth grade artists from Marshfield Middle School. Artists were challenged to draw Marshfield in three lenses: the past, the present, and the future.
Students incorporated iconic buildings and figures from Marshfield’s history, such as the Round Barn and different storefronts on Central Avenue. To represent the future of Marshfield, the students drew things that they’d like to see in the future, such as a Panda Express or futuristic vehicles.
Aubri Fellenz said, “My [building from the] past was Upham Mansion.”
Tim Kraus said, “For my buildings I had the Round Barn and I put the ferris wheel that’s at the fair every year. [To represent the present] I had City Hall and the new library. I put a P Sherman tank that was used in the World Wars to represent the past and I put a 1960’s Corvette and an old car from the 1920’s and the 1930’s.”
Local historian Ken Bargender spoke to the artists about William Purdy and Harold Jaeckel, Marshfield war heroes that fought in World War I.
Savanna Bernitt said, “He talked about different helmets that they wore in World War I and II.”
The students had roughly two and a half weeks to finish the project. The student artists found it difficult to complete such a detailed project on such a short deadline.
Kraus added, “I liked the creative freedom we got.”
The students used different techniques to create the project, including cross hatching, texture, and shading. Perspective, scale, and 3-D perspective – difficult skills to master – are prevalent in every work. Students learned how to show space in a landscape by overlapping buildings and creating alleys between buildings.
The exhibit’s opening ceremony begins at 5:30pm on Thursday, May 11th and runs until 7 pm. Ten Civic groups will select a piece of art from the exhibit that exemplifies the group’s mission statement. The groups will then speak about the works selected at the reception in front of an audience of students, parents, and community members.
The ten Civic groups involved are: City of Marshfield Historic Preservation Committee, The Laird Foundation, New Visions Art Gallery, The Evert Roehl Public Library, North Wood County Historical Association, Marshfield Genealogy Society, Marshfield Military History Museum, Local Color Award: Marshfield School District, Chestnut Center of the Arts, and Main Street Marshfield.
