Hovland’s painters focus on feathers and ornaments

HOVLAND — Painter Gina Adams began her art career with a very different focus.

She grew up in an artistic family. Her uncle worked as a muralist and she painted and painted with her grandmother.

Later, when she attended the College of Visual Arts, her style shifted to large canvases of New York-style graffiti.

“Never in my life would I have imagined that this would be refined into a painting of a bird or a teacup,” Adams said. “But it was a radical change, and it all came down to playing with color.”

About 10 years ago, Adams realized he had little inspiration in his studio space. She inherited a large collection of teacups from her grandmother and great-aunt’s tea shop. One of them was sitting on a shelf in her studio, so she decided to paint it.

“It was one of those days where I had no idea what to draw, but I had to do something, so I decided to do a simple still life study using cups,” Adams said. “When I started painting the teacups, something clicked in my head. It clicked, so instinctively I put the bird on it. And I loved it.”

As she continued to paint and explore, she was able to choose from several styles of teacups. But Adams needed more birds. She started by drawing pictures of birds visiting the feeder, but wanted to do more with her reference photos. When she moved to Hovland a few years ago, she started walking in the woods to watch birds.

“I realized that going to the forest and spending time alone there was really good for me, so I just kind of continued to do that,” Adams said. “I take all the reference photos myself because I feel it is important to work with birds that I have had some kind of interaction with.”

Adams said it wasn’t difficult to fit the bird into a teacup. It just comes instinctively. She usually starts her drawing with a cup and then matches the bird to the cup. But sometimes he had to wait for a bird worthy of the cup.

“It’s just there and I look at pictures of birds and some of them work. There’s really no process there, I just do whatever seems appropriate at the time,” she said. “I also started branching out into larger birds and placing them like double stacked cups and teapots, and it was a whole new world.”

Terry Cadeau / Duluth Media Group

Adams said she doesn’t know exactly what it is about combining feathers and ornaments that appeals to her, but she likes to leave her work open to interpretation.

“One woman expressed it in a way that I really liked: She bought a few paintings and said they ’caused joy,'” Adams said. “I love the idea of ​​having something light and delicate and beautiful. You can project your life story onto it. I want it to be open for someone to just enjoy.”

Her work can be seen at the Cook County Craft Market, held every Saturday in the summer from May through October, as well as at the Hovland Art Festival, Grand Marais Art Festival, and Art Along the Lake. Some of her tea towel and potholder prints can also be found at the Market at Dovetail Cafe in Duluth.

Terry Cadeau is a features reporter for the Duluth News Tribune. Cadeau, a native of the Iron Range, has worked for several community newspapers in the Duluth area, including the Duluth Ballestair News, Western Weekly, Weekly Observer, Lake County News Chronicle and, occasionally, the Crockett Pine Journal. When she’s not working, she’s an avid reader, crafter, dancer, trivia buff, and cribbage player.