Destiny helps find the way to 2029 Old Stage Road in Sister Bay, Wisconsin. Here portrait artist James Jay Ingwersen and his wife, Phyllis, renovate a host of log, stone and shingle style buildings on wooded farmland away from the lakeshores in the Door Peninsula. One large building houses Ingwersen's open working studio, three large rooms one can visit on Wednesdays and Saturdays, 2:00-5:00 p.m., June through October. Catch him this year during The Great Days Arts Tour 2010 on October 8, 9, 10, and 11.
The rustic studio holds a plethora of Ingwersen paintings in rooms where oriental rugs cover the six-inch wide floorboards. Today past 70 years of age, Ingwersen previously spent much his life in Chicago where he owned a gallery and painted prestigious portraits. This included Carson, Pirie, & Scott founder Bruce MacLeish and Oscar Mayer, the president to the household name in hot dogs and bologna. His clients encompassed institutions such as Washington, D.C.'s United States Supreme Court to Chicago's Northwestern University School of Medicine.
Distinguished individuals painted through Ingwersen's eyes also portray foundry workers, Native American mothers, his neighbor down the road in worn overalls, and more importantly children. Whether working in charcoal, graphite, oil or pastel, Ingwersen captures the essence and soul to a persona together with a captivating likeness. True to their natural features while yet being elegantly optimistic in their portrayal, they radiate dignity and appear to breathe.
Ingwersen uses uncommon perspectives and placements in his portraiture, which marries the candid nature inherent to photography with the emotion embodied in the human brushstoke. The artist's very famous pastel, Gretchen, pictures a towheaded toddler sitting in a wicker chair. She enjoys milk and cookies from a small table set in front of her, while she unabashedly licks her fingers. One foot wears an untied tennis shoe while the other is tucked under her body, unseen, in the enchanting and realistic childhood image.
While portraits may have been Ingwersen's steady career through much of his creative life, he also paints landscapes and still life with equal expertise, similar to the Flemish rendering of light and shadow while using painterly application. That is what he presently works on in his studio one may walk directly into. Front and center his easel stands next to an antique Stickley table that keeps his glass palette within close reach. Schmicke, Rembrandt and Windsor Newton oil tubes neatly line the table's edge, identifying his current medium of choice.
Photographs and old John Singer Sargent museum posters cover the walls while old photographs are pinned in an orderly manner on the window mouldings. Numerous bookshelves outline the room, filled with volumes on Winslow Homer, Rembrandt, Sargent, Zunigo, Japanese prints and The Art History of Japan. A large coffee table sized book titled The Painter: Joaquin Sarolla welcomes him to his desk facing a large North window. Looking throug Ingwersen's extensive library illuminates his passion for creativity, a man who has studied the art to making art every day of his life.
In one hidden corner the artist's recent Author Series uncovers sixteen oil on board paintings stacked behind one another---Rudyard Kipling, Carl Sandburg, George Bernard Shaw, Mark Twain, and Walt Whitman name several to the in the grouping. Even unframed they reflect these compelling literary personalities through various head poses set against atmospheric backgrounds. Standing in the uninhabited studio alone, with every object available for close observation, can overwhelm and delight the serious visitor.
Ingwersen waits outside in his chair on the shaded stone patio. Handsome and slim with a neatly trimmed silver white beard, he wears jeans and a button down shirt, casually elegant like his paintings, amiable to answering questions. In this rustic setting his unassuming personality keeps one off guard, a pleasant surprise and treasure for anyone passing along this road. When in the Door County area, be sure to visit the artistic haven to an nationally renowned painter. The restored and restful retreat maybe even more beautiful in autumn. James Jay Ingwersen will be appreciated in any season, in person and through his accomplished paintings.
(Contact the artist at Ingwersen Gallery, 2029 Old Stage Road, Sister Bay, Wisconsin 54234. 920.854.4072. Visit his gallery on The Great Days Arts Tours 2010, October 8, 9, 10 & 11 from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. This includes the Five Hidden Galleries at Door Peninsula's Top of the Thumb: Bonnie Paruch Studio, Wayne Caldwell Simmons Studio/Gallery, Bob Williams Studio/Gallery, Bentleys of Door County, and Silver Poplar Studios, Jim Maronek.)
