Baldwin-Woodville graduate Greg Gossel is pictured in front of one of his creations.
Greg Gossel is taking part in an art show 'Worlds on Fire," an exhibition showcasing artist portraits of Grammy-nominated artists, which opened February 2, in Los Angeles. The show is presented by Will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas and curated by artist Kris Lewis and Justin Giarla of the Shooting Gallery.
Gossel was born in 1982 in Baldwin. After graduating from Baldwin-Woodville High School, he continued at the University of Wisonsin-Eau Claire, for a major in design in 2005.
After establishing his painting technique, his work began to express an interplay of many diverse words, images, and gestures. His career continues to develop, with varieties of multi-layered paintings on canvas and paper illustrating a visual history of change, in media infiltration throughout the use of commercial images. To gain his desired affect, he splatters paint, screen-prints images, photo transfers text, stencils, and lacquers building a complex and rich image surface.
Based in street art techniques, these methods depict the chaos in American society. Giving a nod to pop art and graffiti, he depicts the current events in contemporary society with a new take those periods.
"My work is about life, the struggle, and the beauty. I try to accomplish this through the interplay of many diverse words, images, and gestures," Gossel said. "I'm interested in process — building up a surface and layering a variety of mediums; spraying, printing, splashing, erasing, dripping, and writing in a very loose and spontaneous way. When a piece is finished, I want it to illustrate a visual history of change, process, and expression."
Since his first show with Shooting Gallery in 2006 he has been extremely prolific, showing from Red Dot art fair in New York in May 2008, to Red Dot art fair in London in October 2008, Los Angeles in November 2008 and Aqua Art Miami in December 2008.
He currently resides in Minneapolis, Minnesota and is represented by Justin Giarla of the Shooting Gallery in San Francisco.
A link to pieces for the show can be found at: www.greggossel.com/worldonfire/.
"I'm represented by the Shooting Gallery in San Francisco, and upcoming for 2009 I'll be showing my work at the SCOPE art fair in New York in March, a solo exhibition at the Shooting Gallery in San Francisco in June, and a three person exhibition in Toronto this July," Gossel said.
"I'm meeting with a gallery owner to talk about potentially working together on a show here in Minneapolis later this year," Gossel noted.
Fusion clinch conference title for second straight year
With wins of over Chippewa Falls and Hudson, the St. Croix Valley Fusion clinched the Big Rivers Conference title for the second straight year — the first two years of conference play for the girls.
Coach Matt Cranston noted with a win over Menomonie on Thursday the Fusion would have a perfect 16-0 record over that two year span.
The Fusion Beat Chippewa Falls 2-0 on Thursday and Hudson 1-0 on Saturday. Devin Roen added both games to her shutout collection and now has recorded 11 for the season, Cranston added.
The Fusion are now 17-0-1 overall and 7-0-0 in the Big Rivers Conference. The team has two regular season games remaining. On Thursday they are at Menomonie and on Saturday , February 14 they play at Point/Rapids.
Mikayla Doornink won speaking contest
Mikayla Doornink, a senior at B-W High School, was the winner in the prepared speech category in the district FFA speaking contest held at St. Croix Central High School on Monday, January 26. Her speech was titled "rBST/Ag Technology."
Mikayla advances to the sectional FFA speaking contest that will be held in New Richmond in March.
Cookies are Ruth TeGrootenhuis' specialty
The Christmas baking season may be long gone, but one local lady continues to churn out cookies as if it were the height of the holidays.
Ruth TeGrootenhuis, by her own account, has baked roughly 42,000 cookies since she started routinely baking cookies two or three times a week about 20 years ago. "I've got to have something to do when I'm by myself," she explained.
TeGrootenhuis, of Baldwin, bakes cookies Wednesdays and Fridays and sometimes Saturdays, too. She also works three times a week as an activity aide at Park View Nursing Home. She has worked there for the past 22 years.
Since starting her cookie baking routine, Ruth's friends, co-workers, pastors who visit at Park View and her daughter and her family and co-workers have all benefited by being supplied by fresh cookies.
When she started, Ruth used to make three or four kinds of cookies, but now makes just chocolate chip cookies. Baking all those cookies gets expensive, she said, but for Christmas she received a large bag of chips as well as flour and sugar.
Ruth and her husband Bill lived in Woodville for many years, but when he died unexpectedly in 1982 at the relatively young age of 59, Ruth and her daughter Terry moved to Baldwin to be closer to Terry's work. Terry is now married to Hans Ostergaard and teaches in the Ellsworth School District. Terry and Hans are the parents of Ruth's two grandchildren. Terry and her colleagues all benefit from Ruth's cookie baking penchant.
Recently Ruth started baking muffins with no sugar for her diabetic friends. The muffins are made with raisins, applesauce and bran cereal.
From the Exchanges
Interesting News Items from
Surrounding Communities
AMERY FREE PRESS: Amery police were dispatched to Arlington Drive on Friday, January 23, for a reported burglary in progress. Nearing the location, the officer was informed the suspects had left the area in a small vehicle, heading west on Arlington in the direction of the dead end and had not yet returned. The homeowner advised that the vehicle was still parked on the street. The victim said that three persons had just walked into his house when they realized they were in the wrong house they left. However, when they left, the victim looked out the window and saw them going through the back of his truck. He went out and caught one of his ice auger and tip-ups in his hands, they were put back, but he was missing his Vexilar fish finder. The officer then went to another residence on Arlington Drive, heard yelling in the house and the sound of doors closing and what appeared to be people running from the back of the house. The officer was met by two females that he knew. The owner came in and the officer explained what had happened. The officer observed that one or more were obviously very intoxicated. the officer learned the name of one of the individuals which is Bryan J. Church, 27, New Richmond. No one admitted knowing where the two males had gone. The officer notified other officers that there were two males on foot in the area, possibly heading for the lake. After checking the vehicle for the Vexilar fish finder, the officer heard yelling from inside the house, went in and found the owner of the house yelling at Church, who was then led outside and taken into custody. As he was placed in the squad car, the officer heard more yelling from inside and another male came out of the residence. Reports were taken and Church was arrested, charged with theft and on a Polk county warrant.
RIVER FALLS JOURNAL: She's skinny, about 50 pounds, 8-12 months old, no collar or tags. Mixed breed: Shepherd's hair, Labrador's body, Rottweiler's coloring. Last week Monday just after 12:30 p.m. the dog poked through a guardrail on the Hwy. 35/65 bypass over Division Street, darted across the road and was hit by a southbound Ellsworth pickup driver. The elderly man, who had just turned onto the bypass and hadn't reached highway speed said he clipped the dog with his bumper but didn't run her over. After the impact, the dog rolled, picked herself up and crawled up a snow bank. The Ellsworth man and a female driver stopped to look after the still-breathing dog. Her nose was bloody and she had a broken tooth, but no skin lacerations. Police were called, then KinniCroix and River Falls Veterinary Hospital.
PIERCE COUNTY HERALD: The sparky points of a taser put an end to an Eagan, Minn., man's romp on Maui at the expense of a Diamond Bluff woman he had promised to marry. James E. Jackson, 40, now sits in a Maui correctional facility awaiting extradition to Wisconsin after being taken into custody by Maui police on Jan. 9. "The judge in Hawaii wants him (Jackson) to face charges there first before sending him back to Wisconsin," said Lt. Dennis Sorenson of the Pierce County Sheriff's Department. Jackson met Kathleen Cullen, 49, in September at Prescott Days and he then moved into her home just after Thanksgiving. The two were planning a Las Vegas wedding. But on December 23, Jackson told Cullen he had a business meeting in Grand Forks, N.D., and flew away. However, the plane wasn't going to Grand Forks, he was on a one-way trip to Hawaii, all paid for by using Cullen's credit card information he allegedly had taken. Several other things were missing including her laptop, cell phone and other items totaling approximately $7,500.
