 Welcome to gallery works. My name is Kitty Lynn Klisch and we're in the studio today with fellow artist and very good dear friend Alan Pape Alan has a really interesting History and he's going to share that with us today and his artwork. So I'm glad you could join us Welcome to the show Alan. Good to see you again. Yeah, it's good to see you too Yeah, I wanted to start off with a story about Kitty and I This is a plein air painting. I did in Ireland when she brought her students on a seven-day trip to Ireland facts you were there twice and This is the Grand Canal and your class was Starting from the the bridge on down the side of the canal And I decided to set up down here and and paint to the east and you were up there painting to the West because there were other buildings and yeah, and boats there and Suddenly We heard I heard this ruckus and a bit of screaming And I looked up there and there was one of her students was in the middle of the canal She had fallen right now. Yeah, she rolled down the Embankment there and flipped right into the canal and of course no none of us knew how How deep it was? I know and I didn't know if I was going to have to dive in to get her But she was able to work her way over to the area and we pulled her pulled her out and that was a part of a An interesting day to say the least her painting was over in the class took a while to get settled out That was the joys of plein air painting. Oh, yes. Yes, it definitely is. Yeah, that was I and I remember that particular day because I had walked down and Was standing by you and because you were quite a ways away from me And I had walked down and I had looked at your painting and the first the the first impression I had was of surprise and I maybe I shouldn't tell you this but I was surprised how well you were doing It was just beautiful what you were doing and I loved it and you were right on target You know and then we had all that other exciting stuff go on So yeah, that was those were those were two very wonderful trips They were really were and if it hadn't been for your expertise We wouldn't have known how to get around Ireland and and all the places and everything because you'd been such a frequent visitor There so it worked out really well. Well, it was a great time That was probably the best group we ever had. Oh, yeah on this program We're getting a little ahead of the story, but okay This is a painting that I did After I had taken one of a year of kiddies classes and it's basically an architectural view of the place where I was working in Milwaukee at the time and It's called the county Claire. It's a Reconstruction basically of a Dublin Boutique hotel in Milwaukee, Wisconsin So it has an Irish theme through and through and part of my job while I was working there for six years was to promote all the Irish hotels that these investors owned and I ran the tours to Ireland to get to one of the places will show you a picture that where you you stayed But before we get into the story too long. I Just wanted to mention all important Kiddies classes were to me getting started in painting I knew I wanted to paint for a long long time and I was an art student In Milwaukee at UWM back in the 60s and I wanted to do representational painting and but at the time everything was modern modern modern abstract and I didn't get any Encouragement to do this sort of thing. I loved museums and museum dioramas And I thought maybe someday I'd be a museum person and creating These interesting art exhibits in museums But I had no encouragement from the professors. So I switched my major to go into landscape architecture Because I knew I had interest in art, but I also liked plants And trees and shrubs And I so I got my degree in Madison at in the landscape architectural department and I specialized in a small area called historic preservation And over the years I've restored a lot of buildings written a lot of reports got into creating museums moving buildings And it worked out pretty good And I retired from all of this six years ago and I've been doing a lot of painting since then So this was a painting I did just to show the county Claire Where I worked in my In my the end of my career One day we had a staff meeting and the staff announced We're planning to beautify the front desk area in the hotel And I said oh, I'd like to volunteer and make a painting for the back wall in the front desk Never having done a big painting But having Weekly classes with you. I thought you would be able to help So I came in to your class and with this Challenge, how do I put it together? How do I paint people? And how do I paint a dog and and buildings and and that's roof? And so this was a class project that you helped me with And as soon as it was finished we hung it I had it framed and hung in the back wall behind the front desk at our hotel and the The owner of the corporation came in The very next day and he he called me at home. He was so excited. He says I want 20 more I remember that 20 more Well, uh, as it turned out, uh, the goal was to produce 100 Irish paintings before I retired And I I did uh I was successful in that but what it was really interesting to me is that Most artists are always looking for places to display their work Where I had a built-in audience here with the five hotels For putting paintings in all the rooms, which was really 125 rooms, right? And in the lobbies and behind the bar right the front desk, so I never was successful in in Putting all the rooms With original artwork because the people started buying them off the walls. Oh marvelous and Maybe someday I'll go back to it again and and But it was interesting to be Known as the artist and resident I hardly even knew what an artist and resident was At the hotels so I would spend time in some of the hotels Paintings so right out there Where the people were coming and going right right and then I did have a show My first show I have a picture of that too. Okay, and all this time you're learning with every with every painting That you did you were you were reinforcing yourself and you were learning And it was wonderful to have a patron That paid for all the all the painting supplies and let me paint Uh on his time. Yes, I got paid to paint And with your help I was able to Go from step to step I have to tell you Ellen I I was amazed At I mean that was I mean talk about a gift That was really you lucked out. I mean that you were just The right person in the right spot at the right time because that doesn't happen You know that happens so rarely in this in this Artist world in the artist's life that you fall into a gig like that I mean that you you were very fortunate this painting is the entrance for Castle Daily Manor The hotel that we owned over there in in ireland and you're seeing The front of the building. It's a Georgian style manor house that was owned by a wealthy irish person built in in 1760 and there's a bus coming in Loaded with Americans and some of our staff and our dog is out there To receive them boy. Do I remember that? Oh When the first time I pulled up there my heart was thumping so hard. I just was so excited Yeah, your students very much enjoyed What room were you in that time? I can't remember the the number of the room while I remember it was quite elegant And I was very happy with it okay during the the time that the tours The visitors were there on the tour we would stop at Kaleen's pub and this is a picture of Of the Americans walking across the street to Kaleen's and We'd go there. I think on sunday afternoon before we went to Klond MacNoise on the Shannon River And Kaleen's is one of those pubs Where there's a grocery store combined with a pub right right And they're known for their irish coffee with the whiskey and the fresh cream on the top right and It's just a wonderful environment and we would have Think do singing in there and get into the spirit of what pubs are like So it's interesting the That painting was sold Uh the the first day of my first show and A man came in to the hotel where I was showing these pictures and he started out by By buying that one That was uh I think it was $850 And by the time he left he bought two more off the wall and this woman here Nancy Jensen from Plymouth Came down to Milwaukee and she purchased this painting That's right above us And she has that in her home So my first show I was able to sell four large paintings. That's marvelous. That's marvelous I was so surprised because when Nancy said I'd like to buy that one It was almost said you you really want to buy it You know, I hadn't had ever sold a painting before you want to buy this big painting. It's $850. No, I want I want that painting Ellen, I have to tell you at that time of your life You walked around with this look on your face of absolute total awestruck It was like you couldn't believe what was happening It was all all happening so fast for you. I I was so happy and proud of you I really was I was happy for you and and very proud of you Yeah, your encouragement helped a lot Just to have the basics How to start and and you have that stage fright Where do you start? You have an idea what you want to create? But if you don't have those basics You're fumbling around and how do you lay out your palette and what colors Are cool colors and which ones are warm colors? There's yeah, you have to know the basics the the technical part of it and then and then once you have that down Then you're free to create You know, I really appreciate it the way you took me You just started me out with pencil drawings just like Somebody coming in for the first time. Yep. Yep, and I remember our very the very first time you took a workshop from me And you said I have made up my mind. You have helped me make up my mind What I want to be When I retire I want to be a full-time artist And I thought to myself at the time, you know, that's wonderful and I hope that's really true You know little did I know how You were going to be able to put that all together and really Make that a reality Most people have a little trouble there following through, you know But you didn't you made it your reality and that was that was very very made me feel very very good because When you know when you told me after the first time you met me and took one workshop and said I know what I want to do now. I I just Makes me feel wonderful how things have turned out for you yeah this next painting is the kind of work that I thought well, how do I specialize in in my painting style and the more I talked with these Two old irish guys the more I realized that When you paint a painting you're capturing a story And perhaps I could write up the story behind the painting So this was the first painting I did where I actually interviewed them and My friend Stuart came along on the tour and he's working there with with queen either They're One of the dog border collies and Tommy over here had just taught us How to make these same bridges crosses inside their Their kitchen And that whole environment of being in in a real honest-to-goodness Hospitality It's almost like spending three hours in heaven. Oh, yes, definitely And you got a chance to come back and and paint there too. Yes. I did bonita, buddhist, and I we co led the second group and Bonita and I had A chance to get away one afternoon and we went to their cottage and we painted and And unbeknownst to us the gentleman had prepared this lunch for us And so we got to Actually go inside their cottage and it was a thatched cottage And and you know and they cooked and they heated and everything over this this like fire where they they burned What was it was Pete Pete and And they were just so delightful And I think one of the my favorite paintings from that time is the painting I did of the two of them peeking out the window at me as I was painting the outside of their cottage with their little window They had a window and they had some flowers in it and the cottage was all white washed white And the two of them were peeking out of the lace curtain at me And that's one of my favorite memories of it. I would never sell that painting They were they were marvelous gentlemen and bonita and I just we looked at each other like And it was wonderful. It was what a day. What a day Well as I started to specialize sort of in paintings that have a story behind it And I was retired by that time My wife and I my wife Marilyn and I decided that we wanted to Do what she calls traveling with a purpose or purposeful traveling and We bought a a van and equipped it for camping and we started going around to all the national parks And she would sit on the side and I would paint And we did that for what we're still doing it next year. We're going on a big trip to Nova Scotia in Maine and we'll be painting there and Three weeks ago I was we were in Italy and and I painted four paintings And she would sit there and watch me paint and she would read But this is this became quite a neat way of of seeing uh These national parks well because you were because you would do the painting and and in in place of Paying is that is that how you? quite often I tried to get to be artisan resident at the Rocky Mountain National Park And uh, I started to uh In I didn't make it So I tried with other national parks and state parks and they were more open right and a zion national park actually wanted me to be There for their 100th anniversary and being 24 paintings of zion. Oh my first show Well, that was a huge commitment. Yeah as it turned out I wasn't able to do that but here's an example I was the first artisan resident for the Florida park system and and this is one of the paintings that I did For them, okay, and this was a oh, that's beautiful picture of a ccc project that was done Back in the 1930s right and they wanted me to paint They are one of the many parts national and state parks that had the ccc workers Work relief back in the in the late 30s and early 40s So beautiful that was taken from done from an old photograph And then I decided to do an artisan residency for a historical society that had a saloon Okay, so uh, this is a picture A painting I did of an old picture that was in this saloon And I was there for a week and and did this painting and you You can actually see there's some old chairs. Those are real chairs standing in front of the of the painting and there is the Pool table there on the right and it it harkened back to my original idea Back in the 60s of doing a museum exhibit where you have real artifacts in front and it sort of Drifts back into a painting for a backdrop. Sure And that was a lot of fun. I guess so yes This this is one I did for a museum in Arizona I was artist and resident there for a month and I did 13 paintings for them the first year and six paintings the last year and here is a bird's-eye view of of an old ranch in Arizona At which half of the ranch became Fountain Hills, Arizona A A new town development and the rest of the ranch became fort mcdall County park, oh That's beautiful. This is a quite a large painting How when you say quite a large now, what do you mean by that? Well, it's uh It's three feet by four feet. Yeah, that is a good size, right But it was done from from old photographs done On the land and then I imagined what it would look like from a bird's-eye view. Sure. You sure And here is a mural That was done for the Plymouth Historical Society that's it's uh eight foot high and uh 16 feet long And it shows the the city of Plymouth in 1867 Now is Plymouth where you're from originally? Yes. Okay Well, I've lived here for since 1983 But I wanted to show the overview of the town when it was really in its heyday when things were booming and The the railroad was coming through it and they still had a stage line and A lot of the original businesses were there on the river So this was another kind of a dream come true thinking You know 40 years ago could could I do murals? And it was a lot a lot of fun to produce that now and what was the size of the mural? Do you remember? Yeah, it was eight feet by 16 feet. Oh my okay. That yeah, that's right I remember you stopping by and and telling me That you were working on a mural and I never did get down to see that. I was sorry about that It's part of a kind of a streets and old Plymouth Group of of exhibits sure and they talk about the plank road that came through town. Yeah Now here is A museum a plein air painting I did Uh Two years ago at old world, wisconsin I worked there for 13 years helping to build this large outdoor museum We moved in buildings from all over the state of wisconsin And I got the thinking In retirement it would be need to be artist and resident out there. Oh sure Because in in the old days there was this itinerant artist type of person that came through these villages and they would do sign painting and painting on windows and graining of furniture and graining of woodwork and also paintings for people they were on the the goal with their horse and buggy and So I I got into costume A period costume and I was there for five days and I produced four paintings and this was one of them It's marvelous. Yeah, that was really interesting And then one of my friends from high school Also a fan of old world wisconsin Said that he he and his wife wanted to develop their own little museum and live in it And I ended up actually selling him a building this german half timber That I had stockpiled to save and We both went to lutheran high school in milwaukee So I was very interested in german lutheran pomeranian lutheran traditions and the architecture that was Built in those days by these german lutherans and I said hey rod this building would be perfect for you Because it reflects your heritage So they went to town and and reconstructed it And also put a log building on the back side and took down three barns and used those parts and his wife susie is a Makes quilts so she's pictured out there hanging one of her quilts out and rod is out there working with his logs And I gave them this this as a present for Going through with this vision. Okay now We are just about out of time. I don't know where the time is gone But in the few minutes that we have left I I would like you to Briefly address this and then I'd like to briefly address what Your vision is that you have coming up and if you wanted to show the last Or yeah, that's fine here. I'll just take these down This is a work in progress In colorado, I've had three years of artists in residency on the back side of rocky mountain national park and This is a painting I did last summer for a family that I interviewed and Basically I'm fascinated with why people build log buildings And this is the story behind why Their parents built these log buildings In the west so you have essentially taken taken a painting and And made a story and you're making a story and with diagrams and and uh and photographs and photographs And everything in it right that is really that's very very interesting So I I want to do a collection of these And donate them to the historical society. I think that's a marvelous idea And just quickly now we only have a couple minutes left just quickly What do you have planned for june? Okay? I got this idea while I was out in arizona of Of gathering 10 artists together In a kind of a captured audience for 10 for four days And each day we would produce one painting So totaled up 10 artists doing four paintings each equals 40 paintings. So 40 paintings in 40 days and I have decided to go ahead on this and I've got Most of the artists Interested in doing it And we'll see where it goes, but they'll be painted on window shades of all things And the title is Earth Shades 40 paintings in 40 days and they'll be rolled up and used in different venues Art centers churches and schools will be able to be a traveling exhibit I think that's a fantastic idea And I also am very very honored that you have asked me to be one of the artists I I'm very honored to be a part of that and I I thank you so much for being on the show today I don't know where the time went. It really flew Um, I guess it's because you just have You've done so much. I mean you're so you you From that first time I saw you till now you've just grown so so much as an artist and and in your experiences And I appreciate you sharing them with us today so much. Thank you. You've been my inspiration. Thank you Thank you. And once again, this is kitty linclish for gallery works I'll don't miss the next show. Um, it'll be another great one. Thank you. Bye. Bye for now