| SISTER BAY, WI - Each year Brigitte Kozma and Tom Seagard leave
their Mill Road Gallery
and home in Sister Bay to sail to the Virgin Islands. They spend five to six months of winter painting and soaking
up an exotic palette of tropical flowers, trees, landforms, and marine life that the islands provide. |
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Both artists strongly agree that the environmental
contrast between Wisconsin and the Caribbean sharpens their perception of nature, and plays an important role in
the way they depict it. For many years Brigitte Kozma and Tom Seagard
have been very active in Door County's art community. |
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After graduating from UW Milwaukee, they chose to abandon the urban art scene, moving
to Door County for a more relaxed and inspirational environment. A steadily growing clientele over the past thirty
years, and many return visitors find that time spent visiting with Brigitte and Tom is an unexpected break. The
Mill Road Gallery, their home and studio is like an island in Sister Bay. Once the door closes behind you time
slows down as you become steeped in a sea of rich natural imagery.
Brigitte's large, powerful representational Door County forest-scapes immediately catch your eye. They are all
about capturing the changes in light and color as it filters down through the leaves. |
| She loves to depict places in different seasons and under different conditions, telling
stories in her paintings. |
(CLICK IMAGE FOR ENLARGEMENT)
"Ephraim Summer"
20" x 24"
available in a signed and numbered edition lithographic print
or a canvas transfer print derived from an original oil painting
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Brigitte classifies herself as a traditional oil painter, but she
demonstrates an understanding of light in nature typical to the impressionists.
She shares this in a collection of paintings and prints made after a recent trip to France where she spent time
working at the home and gardens of Claude Monet.
Tom's work is often small and even sometimes tiny, but rich with details reminiscent of a modern Audubon. He started
out painting huge abstract wall canvases. Over time he began to include and focus in on representational subjects
drawn from nature and wildlife. Now he merges the two as an abstract realist, often painting in "reverse"
from subject to background. |
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(CLICK IMAGE FOR ENLARGEMENT)
"Turquoise Light"
6" X 8"
available in signed lithograpgh
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He shows me several paintings of a sea turtle explaining, "I
use anything that will make a mark" as he describes how he first
rendered the turtle in stunning clarity, then added the abstract undersea background around it. |
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| Tom lists everything from refrigerator retouching paint to kitty litter, as an extraordinary
combination of ingredients used in creating his pictures. A wealth of interconnected stories and experiences inspire
him in his work. While nature and travel serve as his fundamental source of inspiration, he says it is Brigitte
who "taught me everything about where I want to be as an artist.". |
| Their Mill Road Gallery is located at 326 Mill Road in Sister Bay. Tour their individual studios, ask questions
and enjoy the wonderful water gardens Brigitte is developing, not to mention their exciting works of art. |
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| Alisha Dall'Osto is a summer intern at the Frances Hardy Gallery under a program funded by a grant
from the Peninsula
Arts Association. |
