Craig Grabhorn is our tenth artist-in-residence (AIR) at Sheboygan North High School. He is our Spring 2019 AiR artist.
The 2018-2019 Artist in Residency Program is supported by a grant from the Wisconsin Art Education Association and Kohler Foundation, Inc.
About
Image courtesy of the artist
Craig Grabhorn lives and works in Sheboygan, WI. A graduate of the University of Wisconsin- Stout, he is currently employed as Community Arts Residency Coordinator with The John Michael Kohler Arts Center. He was born and raised in rural Minnesota and has made a career as a practiced designer, printmaker, painter, curator and arts organizer.
His work is inspired by a meditative exploration or observation of place and the opportunities within our natural surroundings. Through intensive listening he translates environment into material works, including prints, paintings and sculptural works. Objects he creates are often tools or vehicles of exploration, used to help capture and interpret the emotions and opportunities he finds.
Since moving to Sheboygan, Craig has been communing with Lake Michigan and the expansive horizon in a photography project titled 50over50atmos. This meditation was inspired after a two year retreat in the hills of the Driftless region to study and create a print series exploring the an- cient landscape. The 50over50atmos project documents the ever changing colors, surfaces and atmosphere of Lake Michigan as a daily capture from the same location on the shore. The prac- tice of watching with an intimacy, fuels a passion to find connection to local environment.
Courtesy of the artist
Image courtesy of the artist
End of the Year Celebration
Unveiling of the National Art Honor Society, “Be the Next Generation” mural, artist talk with Craig Grabhorn, and poetry reading by students & advisor (in response to Craig’s work).
Exit Interview
Updates
A visit with Carrie McGoldrick’s History class to talk about my work and a support their WPA poster exploration.
I have been rotating between work on some new screen printed tapestries and small explorative paintings while not joining up with classrooms.
Some of the prints have begun to find a good resting place near completion. As their process is a slow build up based on balance and a sort of game working to use a few pulls to create a finished tapestry/print. These pieces often sit for a moment for consideration, so I have started about 25 of them that are all being slowly built up.
The paintings are about chasing something a little new, shaking off some dust and finding some new energy within the reductive strategy I have been exploring. This week some of these paintings have really started to talk a little bit, I’m excited to see how they keep developing.
I have been working with the Poetry Club, to create a call and response style zine. Poetry club has been helping cut up some print scraps to sample and create compositions that will accompany their poetry in response to the energies contained in the compositions.
nhsartdept.com 