"The Wonderous and the Weird" featuring artwork by Darren Morowitz Welcome Reception

The Hutchinson Art Center welcomes artist Darren Morowitz for "The Wondrous and the Weird" Exhibition. 

There will be an Opening Reception from 5-7 PM on January 3rd and his art will be displayed until February 2, 2020. The reception is free admission, open to the public.

Biography: Darren has been creating art his whole life. His mom even stated that if he didn't do something in art, he would be miserable his whole life. He was born and raised in Hutchinson and is an active member in the art community. Darren received his BFA in Painting and Art Education at Fort Hays State University. He currently works as an art teacher at Hutchinson High School. His art has been published in books and he has been included in several juried exhibits and competitions.

Exhibition Statement: This body of work started two years ago when I became bored with oil painting. I was needing new creative challenges and since I've hated watercolor for most of my life, I decided that was the medium to challenge me. I also began to explore pastels and colored pencils because I felt more comfortable with them to help balance my frustration with watercolors.

I started doing the watercolor landscapes simply for practice, but the more of them I did the more enjoyment I got out of them. Also, the more of them I do the more I feel like I'm searching to find the wondrous essence of the Kansas landscape. The flower studies evolved from this idea as well. I'm attempting to capture all the beautiful wonder in nature in my own hand and translated through my mediums.

On the opposite side, I have a creative need to make strange art. My weirder pieces explore a more complicated relationship between humans and nature. They began with the idea that nature will be here long after humans destroy ourselves. We were once a piece of then natural cycle, but our intelligence has caused us to become separate from it. We can outsmart nature, but it will outlast us. My pieces that combine human and floral elements explore different aspects of that central idea. I also use the language of flowers or floriography to send messages to the viewer to give clues to what the piece is about. Foriography has been around for thousands of years but rose in popularity in Victorian England when messages would be sent through flower arrangements. I use the meaning of flowers provided by the farmer's almanac for my work because I feel it is a neutral cultural system.