On Jan. 29, members of the club Women of Westby unveiled their Women of Winter gallery showcase in Westy Hall. Featuring a display of 31 pieces from the group, the art presented multiple different mediums and styles, from traditional paintings to steel sculptures.

“The showcase was just to show off the art that my members have been making and myself as well,” said Women of Westby President Julia Quennessen. “I think it’s nice for them to be part of a club that’s going to allow them to be represented in the art community and stuff like that. I don’t want to have them doing all this work for nothing.”

The idea for the showcase was something Quennessen says happened last minute after speaking to the owner of the gallery, Alicia Finger. “I was told that there was an opening at the beginning of the semester and so I was like, okay, well, let’s take it and I kind of just went with it,” said Quennessen.

A few of the pieces on display included a lampshade made out of wood, wire beads, and glitter glue made by member Savanna Sobieski as well as a copper and brass dragonfly made by representative Women of Westby representative Leah Reilly. She also created a set of pendants for the gallery show, a multi-step process that took over ten hours to create.

“You have to take each time to practice and understand the feel and the heat that you have to use to get things to connect, so it can be pretty intensive, but then you can also really take your time and make sure you have each piece perfect,” said Reilly. 

For representative Lilli Lowenhar, her medium of choice is pottery. Inspired by the likes of the late potter Lucie Rie, Lowenhar likes how her art is representative of an art form that has transcended the art world for generations.

“Pottery has existed for I believe well over 50,000 years and just having that deep like intrinsic, almost relationship with your ancestors at that point where you’re doing the same art form that has transformed over countless millennia and just being able to create it in the modern day and to express myself with it, I feel like it’s just so beautiful,” said Lowenhar.

For those looking to view the Women of Winter gallery, it will be on display in Westby Hall until Feb. 3. Looking overall, Quennessen is proud of all the work her fellow club members put in to make this last-minute showcase work out and build a winter wonderland that viewers are sure to enjoy. 

“The ambiance I think we did, really well with the lights and the snowflakes and just setting everything up to the theme that we curated,” said Quennessen. “It’s just such a vibe when you walk in and that’s really what I wanted out of the showcase, other than to show the art of course.”

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