“Kristin Quinn: Luminous Flux Paintings From the Watershed” – a new exhibition featuring recent works by the local artist and St. Ambrose University professor – is on display through Sunday, Dec. 28, at the Figge Art Museum.
Ms. Quinn’s abstracted paintings can be viewed at the Davenport riverfront museum’s Gildehaus Gallery. It was inspired by the artist’s connection to the Mississippi River watershed. That in addition to her travels across the Great Lakes, the Upper Peninsula, northern Wisconsin, and Minnesota’s North Shore, a Figge news release said.
The landscapes of rivers, lakes, bogs, and marshes serve as the starting point for paintings that explore the constant changes and shifting atmosphere found in nature.
In this exhibition, the release said the artist is asking: “How can you capture the feeling of a place, including its mood, texture, and atmosphere, through painting?”
She explores this idea through layered colors and textures that reflect not only what she sees. But also what she remembers and feels, the museum said.
“Kristin’s paintings capture the nebulous, ethereal qualities of the natural world through a vibrant, saturated palette,” Figge Co-Senior Curator Joshua Johnson added.
“They spark curiosity, evoking both a sense of familiarity and the mystery of the unknown. We’re thrilled to share her vision with our visitors, and to continue our goal of highlighting the work of outstanding regional artists.”
‘Honor to exhibit’
The “Kristin Quinn: Luminous Flux Paintings From the Watershed” exhibit is supported by contributing sponsors. They are The Current Iowa and Hotel Blackhawk, both in downtown Davenport.
“It’s an honor to exhibit at the Figge,” Ms. Quinn said. “It feels like the work is coming home to our museum framed by the Mississippi. Much of the inspiration comes from exploring the watershed from the Quad Cities to the Canadian border.”
She added in the release: “I’ve tried to capture a sense of flux in the paintings as if they were ebbing and flowing, falling and rising. Reminiscent of being within a single moment in a landscape with competing levels of attention, changing light, movement, and shifting weather This Luminous Flux continues to excite me as a painter.”
Ms. Quinn has been an important part of the Quad Cities’ arts community for decades. That’s both as an artist and as a professor of painting and drawing at St. Ambrose in Davenport. Her work has been shown nationally and internationally, yet it continues to reflect her deep ties to the Midwest landscape.
