Date/Time
Date(s) - January 18, 2023 - April 30, 2023
10:00 am - 6:00 pm
Location
Gregory Allicar Museum of Art, University Center for the Arts
Ron Kroutel
The Glade Series
Works on Paper Gallery, January 18 – April 30, 2023
Ron Kroutel: The Glade Series showcases drawings given to the Gregory Allicar Museum of Art by the artist in 2021. The exhibition is accompanied by five paintings from the same series in the nearby Patricia Crane Coronel Curatorial Office.
“Since moving to Northern Colorado from Southeast Ohio in 2016, I have tried to understand my vastly new environment. Rather than paint the remote, sublime grandeur of the high mountains, the close landscape around me along the Front Range of Northern Colorado has become my center of interest. Here water use is a major issue. The proposed NISP (Northern Integrated Supply Project) Glade Reservoir near Fort Collins is a project that offers me the subject matter to examine the ethical and practical issues involved in the connection between nature and culture. The Glade Valley may be under 280 feet of water soon, so my images are a form of pre-nostalgia.
“These 10 drawings have two main elements. First, they show the eight compass directions of the valley, including up and down. Second, they allude to the Decalogue, an indirect and tacit reference to The Ten Commandments which suggests an ethical consideration on the part of the viewer. No drawing illustrates a specific Commandment, but the formal and aesthetic components form the framework for a general discussion and dialog. This series was inspired in part by the 1988 film series by the Polish film director Krzysztof Kieslowski titled ‘Dekalog’.” —Ron Kroutel
About the artist
Growing up in Chicago, Kroutel attended The Art Institute of Chicago for studio art courses in painting and drawing and The University of Chicago for academic courses.
After an unsatisfying two year stint teaching Art and English in an area high school, he was motivated to move to Ann Arbor where he earned an MFA in painting at The University of Michigan. He then taught in Detroit for three years at Marygrove College and at The Society of Arts and Crafts, a professional art school.
In 1966 he took a position at Ohio University where he eventually became chair of painting, drawing and foundations for many years. Nationally and internationally exhibited with over 39 solo exhibitions, Kroutel has been awarded three Ohio Arts Council Fellowships, an Arts Midwest NEA Fellowship and numerous prizes and awards. His work most recently has appeared in the book International Painting Annual 1, published by Manifest Gallery.
As a professor at Ohio University, he had the good fortune to teach in a considerable number of Education Abroad programs in London, Prague and Florence. These experiences profoundly influenced his teaching and his art practice. More recently he finished teaching in Ohio University’s London Education Abroad program starting in the summer of the year 2000.
Early in 2018, Kroutel was honored with a retrospective exhibition at the Kennedy Museum of Art in Athens, Ohio entitled “50 Year Journey: Ron Kroutel Paintings.” Taking up the entire museum, the exhibition followed the 50 year developmental trajectory of his work while teaching at Ohio University and working in Athens. Curated by the internationally recognized film maker Rajko Grlic, a 100 page book in color was published by the museum.
He and his wife, Patrice Wolf, a recognized painter herself, now work in their studios in Old Town, Fort Collins, CO where they moved in 2016. Since relocating to Fort Collins, he has exhibited his work in a solo exhibition at the Museum of Art Fort Collins, a duo exhibition at the University of Wyoming Art Museum and in galleries in Denver and locally.
His journey continues.
Support for the museum’s exhibitions and programming is generously provided by the FUNd Endowment at CSU, and Colorado Creative Industries. CCI and its activities are made possible through an annual appropriation from the Colorado General Assembly and federal funds from the National Endowment for the arts.
