Shelby Keefe: Time to Say Adieu from the Pfister

Keefes 16 UPAF Paintings Unveiled April 4

Mar. 31, 2012

11:09 a.m.

Time to say goodbye and good luck. Shelby Keefe, the 3rd Pfister Hotel Artist in Residence, was slowly packing boxes, finalizing plans to move back to her Hyde House studio in Bay View. Usually at her easel when at the Pfister studio located on the first floor, just off the lobby, Keefe put the final touches on an Arizona landscape, a sunny view that she had experienced on a recent vacation. Behind the easel hanging on the wall in a neat grid were 16 small, square paintings (12 inches by 12 inches) for the city's United Performing Arts Fund. Keefe had been asked to do the 16 paintings in 16 days, to end on March 16, that will be auctioned at their fundraiser in June. However, the UPAF kickoff opens the 2012 campaign on Wednesday, April 4 at the Harley Davidson Museum Garage where the 16 paintings will be formally unveiled. Each painting represents an arts organization funded by UPAF. At the time near the end of March, Keefe was working diligently to have them signed by the people featured in the paintings so they would retain even a more special quality to them. <o:p /> In a sneak preview of the UPAF kickoff, Keefe went through each painting adding her vivacious notes to the works. While each piece required six to eight hours to complete, some paintings were more complex because of the tiny faces, which Keefe wanted to remain recognizable. Here's a brief listing of Keefe's 16 paintings:<o:p /> <div>One: The Milwaukee Youth Symphony portrait features a young boy and his violin. </div> Two: Bel Canto Chorus<o:p /> Three: The Milwaukee Rep painting showcases Lee E. Ernst and Mallorey Wallace reading on the porch swing from the recent production To Kill A Mockingbird.<o:p /> Four: First Stage Children's Theatre presents four small children with smiling faces, their bodies leaping in exuberance. <o:p /> Five: Milwaukee Chamber Theatre pays tribute to Ruth Schudson and the late Montgomery Davis.<o:p /> Six: Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra<o:p /> Seven: Milwaukee Public Theater<o:p /> Eight: Renaissance Theaterworks presents a portrait of Marti Goebel applying makeup from their second production Neat.<o:p /> Nine: Milwaukee Children's Chorus features seven tiny smiles on faces singing in the outstanding chorus.<o:p /> Ten; Skylight Music Theatre offers a behind the scenes image from their holiday hit, A Music Man.<o:p /> Eleven: Present Music<o:p /> Twelve: Danceworks portrays two youths, smiling from ear to ear and locked arm in arm dancing, from their Mad Hot Ballroom school program.<o:p /> Thirteen: Next Act Theatre<o:p /> Fourteen: The Milwaukee Ballet captures Courtney Kramer and Marc Petrocci in a romantic pairing.<o:p /> Fifteen: The Florentine Opera displays the characters Cupid and Venus in a poetic pose from their production Venus and Adonis. <o:p /> Sixteen: To represent the collective picture of UPAF, a scene from the Ride for the Arts with percussionist Cecilio Negron, Jr. leading the way on his bike.<o:p /> Keefe commented the last painting was most difficult, to render all the faces, and to paint Negron readily recognizable to those in the community, all on bikes and Negro playing the drums. Each of the paintings incorporate figures from Milwaukee's prolific performing arts organizations, actual people seen in photographs given to Keefe by the organization so that she could make a selection on the one that she painted. All feature her new figurative work that Keefe had been perfecting since she contributed to the Peninsula School of the Arts exhibition titled “30 Paintings in 30 Days” last November in Fish Creek, Wisconsin. Each project has inspired Keefe to “now make my goal to include the figure more prominently in my landscapes.”<o:p /> "There's more planning necessary when painting figures, and an artist needs better source material," Keefe explained, to why it will take her more time to accomplish her goal. When painting a landscape, the photographs can be easier to shoot. For this figurative work to be present aesthetically in a landscape, the artist needs to wait for the right people to cross the creative viewfinder and Keefe enjoys taking her own photographs for her paintings. Whether rendered in a landscape or the new figurative images. There's also more perspective and detail involved in the execution, especially when painting a recognizable figure such as Negron, Jr or The Rep\'s Ernst, which Keefe has been working towards. <o:p /> When Keefe leaves the Pfister studio for the next artist to arrive, Timothy Westfield, fans will find her at the Milwaukee Art Museum's Lakefront Festival of Arts in June, the Door County Plein Air Festival in July, and the Milwaukee Domes Art Festival in August. Her time at the hotel allowed her to sell more paintings than ever before, and Keefe admires the innovative program for what an artist can accomplish in the setting. <o:p /> If an artist knows what they can bring to the Pfister's prestigious landmark heritage, their artistic energy will flow from the studio's numerous opportunities to meet with people, from Milwaukee, across the country, and sometimes around the globe. When Keefe waves adieu on April 1, welcome viewing or purchasing her 16 figurative paintings throughout the UPAF campaign. Support all the arts this season.<o:p /> The 2012 United Performing Arts Campaign comes to Miwaukee's Harley Davidson Museum Garage on Wednesday, April 4. Registration begins at 4:00 p.m., the program at 4:30 p.m. and the reception at 5:30 p.m. To register visit the UPAF website to register for the official kickoff program:www.upaf.org<o:p /> <o:p> </o:p> <o:p> </o:p>

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