The thing about Larry Welo being consistently winning is that when I prepare to write about him, the same adjectives spring right to mind. With work that is informed by a dry, self-effacing humor and a dash of romanticism that plays out as poignancy, Larry Welo is one of the stars gleaming brightly among the artists represented by the gallery.

A good friend, Larry will be joining us at 6:30 on Thursday evening, November 5th, for “Talk in the M.U.D.” The Wisconsin artist will be printing some of his plates. This is a great opportunity, because everybody has heard of “etching” but few actually know about the process. If you’d like to learn the differences between an original etching and a reproduction (giclee), and you’d like to have fun while doing the same, I hope that you’ll join us!

The Faraway Look, Looking Glass, and Lane / All intaglio etchings / Larry Welo

Preparing a birthday package for Maggie this past week, I recalled Matt’s words, and thought that it’s a wonderful thing that futures are bright, and our children are finding theirs in places that we love to visit. It was the awareness that the world continues to hold people most dear to us in the face of the sometime- loneliness of new places that I wanted my package to carry to Maggie. I chose an etching by Wisconsin artist, Larry Welo. The printmaker’s deft use of metaphor couches a poetic power in familiar views of the landscape- “The Faraway Look” shows a single, farmhouse hugging the horizon of a composition that broods in a palette of blues. A path leads into the sun-dappled depths of “Looking Glass”. In his newest piece, “Lane”, space beckons the viewer to pause and venture down a woodland path. Welo finds, in each of these, significance in the commonplace. Wrapping up “East of the Sun” for my gift, I felt that the bird’s eye view of the ordered patterns of farmland with a distant, glowing horizon was perfect for my Iowa girl in Brooklyn, New York.

East of the Sun / Intaglio etching / Larry Welo

These are among the images that Larry delivered recently. At that time, we spoke about his discovery of a new Japanese paper that prints the subtlest traces of ink on an etched plate. Larry will be the featured artist on November 5 in our “Talk in the M.U.D.” series.

Talk in the M.U.D. (Talks with artists in the Marion Uptown District) begins this Thursday at 6:30 with sumi-e painter, Karen Kurka Jensen.

Printmaker Larry Welo faces uncertainty with humor and a bicycle!

Larry Welo woke up at 4 a.m. on Thursday, August 7th and methodically circuited through a series of pick-ups and deliveries to the galleries representing his work that dot eastern Iowa. We count ourselves lucky to know this creative soul and to exhibit his etchings. The insight and quiet humor that are revealed in Welo’s prints are such a direct expression of who he is. A bike rider recklessly mounted on a bicycle careening downhill with the improbable text “I know where I’m going” etched beneath

and an expansive view of a mid-western horizon,

are only two of the images which Thursday’s visit yielded. Of late, Larry’s muse seems to have been drawn to the woods. Clusters of trees stand like venerable presences leaning toward each other in communion. Their twined branches offer shade, silence, sanctuary.

And, after much pleading, Mary Weisgram delivered new stoneware and porcelain!

It’s always Christmas when we get new work from this artist. A great staple in the range of functional pottery that the gallery exhibits, this Ames potter’s work can make serving food and drink an aesthetic event.