Wisconsin Painter's 'Dialogue with Nature' at Landmarks Gallery

×

Expand

A piece from "Terrill Knaack: Dialogue with Nature" at Landmarks Gallery

The fabled divide between left brain and right brain, between science and art, never troubled Wisconsin painter Terrill Knaack. He graduated from UW-Madison with degrees in wildlife ecology and art. His mentors were Madison professor Joseph Hickey, who led the fight to ban DDT, and Wisconsin wildlife artist Owen Gromme.

The painter’s interests come together in an exhibition at Landmarks Gallery, “Terrill Knaack: Dialogue with Nature.” The oil paintings on display were inspired by his experiences while hiking, canoeing or just watching in environmentally well-preserved locations such as Blueberry Lake or Wild Rice Lake. He dabbled in wildlife art during the genre’s commercial peak in the 1980s, yet the tendency of his work, as he says, “brings artist and naturalist together.” Fuzzy bears and doe-eyed ducks aren’t his chief concern. Knaack is probably more aware than most landscape painters of the taxonomy of the trees he paints—“my background in science,” he explains.

However, the often filtered lighting, soft reflections on placid lakes and vibrant autumn colors of the forests on his canvases are not necessarily meant as documentation of the empirical. “I look for the inherent symbolism in nature,” Knaack says. “When I’m in nature, it’s speaking to me. I try to bring that out.” His work operates on the level of emotional suggestion and the powerful presences behind the surface. “I thought the trees could be like notes on a score—and how those notes could create resonance,” he continues.

In his way, Knaack as painter is a quiet advocate for the ecosystems he depicts. “We are primarily an urban population but people do need nature and to understand nature,” he says.

Through July 31 at Landmarks Gallery, 231 N. 76th St. For more information, visit landmarksgallery.com.