Madison Originals Magazine Madison Originals Magazine May 2014 | Page 31

creating in a similar way, in a similar space
session at the Milwaukee Institute of
Art and Design. “Oh yeah, my work has
changed because of place,” Katie says.
“The River Journal. I wasn’t making
anything like that before I lived here.
Essentially, being here brought out
something that was always there, when
it comes to picking stuff up off the
ground, collecting feathers, collecting
rocks, all the stuff that would happen
anyway. But now, being on the river, not
in Bayview, it’s just at your fingertips all
the time.”
The Driftless Area in southwestern
Wisconsin was created as a result of its
having escaped glaciation in the last
glacial period. Just west of Madison, all
the way to the Mississippi River, stretches
the Driftless Area. It is characterized by
rolling hills, dramatic valleys, and seven
rivers besides the Mississippi.
“Vernon County feels good,” imparts
Andy. “Maybe it’s the absence of strip
malls and subdivisions. There are
still problems here: rural poverty and
ignorance, but there is also Organic
Valley and the ridges and the small
farms. People are emotionally attached
to the landscape here and that feels
good. That’s what I try to capture in
my painting: the emotion that is tied to
being in a particular place.”

“You could spend an entire day
collecting natural things,” reveals Katie.
“There are so many fish and bugs. It is so
abundant! There are all these crazy birds
and dragonflies hatchin