Month:   August 2026 – September 2026

Artist:    Michael Wilson

Exhibit:   Bridge Between Two Worlds

Dates:

Exhibit Opening Reception Date: August 2, 2026, Sunday, 1:30 pm – 5:00 pm

Presentation:

August 5, 4:00-6:30 pm , Wednesday, Discussion and talk 5:00 pm-6:00 pm,

Studio Hours:

• August 22, Saturday, 12:00-4:00 pm
• August 23, Sunday, 12:00-4:00 pm
• August 29, Saturday, 12:00-4:00 pm
• August 30, Sunday, 12:00-4:00 pm
• September 5, Saturday, 12:00-4:00 pm
• September 6, Sunday, 12:00-4:00 pm
• September 12, Saturday, 12:00-4:00 pm
• September 19, Saturday 10:30 am-4:30 pm Town Day

Exhibit Closing Reception Date:   September 26, Saturday, 1:00 – 2:00 pm

Artist Statement 1:

A lone pedestrian walks across a Venetian Canal emerging from the shadows into the sunlight. What is
his story? Does he work for someone, love someone? What does he dream of? Who is he?
A mystery, with a revelation underneath; every artist yearns for the viewer to imagine such things when
they are looking at a painting or work or art. In a piece’s true story, there is little distinction between
reality and the abstract. Realism and abstraction are the same in this regard.

It’s like reading a story. At the proper moment, the curtain draws back, and AH HA! All is revealed.
Hopefully my oil paintings and life-like tessellations guide the viewers eyes to different areas of the
painting or the drawing through perspective, color, light and shadow, to give the final reveal at the
perfect moment.

Story-telling with color and light is the central theme of my oil paintings while structure is the
fundamental nature of my tessellations. My aim is to capture the viewer’s imagination with elegant
structure, interesting imagery, color and form that is mysterious, yet easily understood.

The essence of creating life-like tessellations is imagining the possibilities behind the abstract shape;
what could this hexagon hold? Could it be a turtle on a lily pad – or a winged horse or a lizard? There are
infinite possibilities to capture the viewer’s imagination.

The key to life-like tessellations is connecting an identifiable object in the viewers memory to the image.
Similarly, a flat oil painting has to feign three dimensions, and lead the viewer across the image, soon
enough, you are seeing the revelation within the scene.

I have been drawing tessellations and making prints for over 40 years. Drawing tessellations by hand did
not come naturally to me; it was a craft I honed over the decades in my spare time. During the pandemic
I was forced to change how I made art and began learning oil painting since I could not easily get access
to the lithographic studio to work on stones and plates. So, for the first time, I explored something truly
unknown to me. Oil painting brought a new passion to my work, capturing landscapes from my home
studio and in plein air.

This exhibit includes both new and old work—original tessellations and original oil paintings. With both
of these mediums, I am bridging between two separate and distinct worlds.
Please wander through and use your imagination, feel free to ask questions and connect with the art. I
plan to show my methods during a planned artist demonstration and a short talk to describe my
approaches. Hope you are entertained, intrigued, and mystified by the stories and pieces, and enjoy the
grand reveal at the curtain call.

Artist Bio:

I’ve have explored two (2) very different techniques and ways of thinking while creating art. My
primary interest, and first love, for over 35 years was creating hand drawn tessellations which I
made into drawings, watercolors, lithographs, linocuts and etchings. I consider my tessellations
innovative and thought provoking but manifestly cerebral and time consuming to accurately
create. This was my first interest and drive to make art. My tessellations are all hand drawn
tessellations of my own design. I did create a few with the aid of a computer to experience that
process but was not satisfied with that method.

My secondary interest in making art, since 2020, has been much less cerebral and is an
exploration of oil painting, mostly landscape painting. My oil paintings are mostly planned
explorations of color, light and form. They typically are developed in a few days to a week in the
studio. I have also explored painting in plein air. I am interested in both ways of thinking about
color, form and pattern and continue to work creating tessellations and oil paintings.
Please visit my website: www.artgallerymichaelwilson.com

Education:
Bachelor of Science, Civil Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, 1983
Architectural Design Studio 1 & 2, Ball State University, Muncie IN, 1983-4
Printmaking, University of Wisconsin- Milwaukee, Milwaukee, WI, 1986
Oil Painting, University of Maine Extension School, Bangor, ME, 1991
Printmaking, Torpedo Factory Art Center, Alexandria, VA, 1994
Printmaking, Museum School, Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA 2001-2002

Exhibitions:
Indiana State Fair, Arts Pavilion, Indianapolis, IN, 1979, Honorable Mention
Torpedo Factory Art Center, 1994, Student Exhibition
Museum School, Boston, 2001, Student Exhibition
Mystic Coffee Roasters, Exhibit, October 2015
Museum of Fine Arts, Artist Demonstration, Drucker Family Pavilion in Concert with M.C.
Escher Exhibit, February 2018
Loading Dock Gallery, Repetition, Replication, Variation, October 2019

Opening Reception:

Website:

http://artgallerymichaelwilson.com

@michaeljwilson24 (instagram)

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