ARTIST BIO

Ginnie Cappaert is a full time visual artist with a summer studio in Egg Harbor, Wisconsin and a winter studio in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Her surroundings of nature and her travels inspire and influence her oil/mixed media paintings on paper or wood panel.

Ginnie has been a full time artist for over 25 years, but it is her intense studying of art history and just ‘experimenting’ that have broadened her personal techniques to art making. She works in oil, cold wax and mixed media layering, adding and removing, many layers to each piece. It is this in-depth process that let’s subtle markings and layers emerge into the finished painting which is an abstracted minimalist version of a landscape. A few of her influences include Mark Rothko, Helen Frankenthaler, Agnes Martin and many others.

Peace. Serenity. Joy. Is what she would like to accomplish in her painting.

ARTIST STATEMENT

Art is made from the soul. I feel that a day is not complete without something ‘artfully’ done!

It is the landscape imagery and its deep space that I explore in my work by building up 30-40 layers of oil paints and mixed mediums. I apply very thin layers of oil paint to the wood board adding texture, scraping the paint, dissolving areas and then rebuilding them as I construct the painting. The removing process is as important as the layering. This ‘surface tension’ eventually is transformed into a peaceful, subtle mix of texture and natural colors. I strive to accomplish a feeling of serenity not only as I paint, but for the viewer as well.

My local surroundings as well as distant trips continue to inspire my artwork. You may see an influence of my travels to Italy, France Portugal, Spain, New Zealand and Ireland as well as my inspiring trips to Santa Fe, New Mexico AND of course my local surroundings in Wisconsin and Michigan. Skies, vast lands, colors and the light also inspire me and I am thankful for the beauty around me and the ability to transform it into my art. Ginnie owns Cappaert Contemporary Gallery in Door County, Wisconsin where she spends her summers painting in her log studio behind the gallery. In winter she enjoys Santa Fe, New Mexico where she co-owns Materiality, a fine art gallery featuring works by Ginnie and her artist/business partners Blair Vaughn-Gruler and Ernst Gruler.