By Marilyn Delk

DCCA News

When entering the Anna Bier Gallery, one is surrounded by beauty, transported to a lovely place; Angie Siefring, the artist who created the lush surroundings, has aptly transferred to the canvas the impressions she derives while taking in the beauty to be found around us. Her Impressionistic paintings currently on display create a sense of joy, capturing the wonder of the natural world.

The St. Henry native’s descriptive yet poetic titles accurately convey the scenes set before the viewer. An ethereal field of gold titled “Sunflower Flair” hangs next to “Daffodil Dance,” depicting—well dancing daffodils. Then comes a sassy sassafras tree that features limbs hanging to the ground entitled “Sassyfrassy.” A bounty of blooms make up the core of “Pollination Station, ” the rhyming title adding to the delight of this viewing experience.

Angie grew up on a farm near Cranberry Prairie in Mercer County, one of 14 kids who helped with the myriad chores of grain farming while also raising turkeys and pigs and milking cows. A few of her paintings are of scenes familiar to anyone who has traveled up Route 127 to Celina, including an inviting look at The Boardwalk Bar and Grill entitled “Good Times Here.” Another familiar sight can be seen in “Hardin Road Homestead” picturing a magnificent old barn-like home with an American flag proudly displayed on its side.

Although she is not the only one of her family to take up art as a career, Angie was always “the artistic one” beginning when she was in grade school. She went on to attend the School of Advertising Art, now “The Modern” in Dayton, before working in graphic design while picking up additional classes, freelancing, and with her husband, raising three daughters.

Although each work feels as though it could be depicting a spot near where the viewer calls home, the majority of Angie’s paintings on display were done in the Columbus area where she now lives and where she finds inspiration in the Metro Parks. “Wherever you go, you can paint,” she says. “Nature provides constant inspiration.” She finds painting “en plein air” to be a joy to experience, and credits a local artist/teacher, Joe Lombardo, for leading her to this discovery.

“Park Maintenance” puzzled me as a title for a lovely picture of a park; I thought that perhaps a brick building in the background was the Maintenance Building, explaining the title. But no! The story is more interesting than that. It seems that the group of artists working “en plein aire” were set up in the park while workers wanted to mow; the workers became silently aggressive, moving their mowers as close to the artists feet and equipment as possible, then harassing even more forcefully after being asked to wait until the painting session was finished before completing their necessary task. Those facts changed my perspective on what appears to be an inviting pastoral scene.

“Lunch Hour on Main” pictures a brick restaurant building fronted by bountiful flowers, a place looking so familiar and inviting that I am sure I have eaten at that place. However, although the artist’s depiction took me there, the restaurant with universal appeal is located in Mansfield, a place I’ve never been.

Several of the paintings emulate autumn, including “Seasons Embrace,” “Golden Indeed!” and “Falling For Fall,” which hang side by side in a corner of the gallery. But other seasons are represented as well; a fountain of yellow blooms illuminate “Spirit of Summer” and an interestingly framed “Sweetheart Rose” truly illustrates the appropriateness of the flower’s adorable name. Spring is evoked in the yellow flag-like blooms of “Iris Inspiration” and “Spring Symphony,” which sings of spring.

And that is only the beginning of the wonders to be found at the Anna Bier Gallery, located within Henry St. Clair Memorial Hall in Greenville. The Gallery is open Fridays from 11 a.m. until 2 p.m.; the light-filled colorful art of Angie Siefring remains on display through Nov. 1. For more information, contact DCCA Visual Arts Director Jennifer Overholser at [email protected] or by calling 440-813-0367.