Dr. Ann Vogel admires a cardboard sculpture created by Michael Wiechmann. The piece is titled “An Average Week.” Vogel said “I feel that. This is perfect.”
NEW ULM — Visitors to The Grand Center for Arts & Culture’s latest exhibit will never look at cardboard the same.
The exhibit “Cardboard Explorations: A Corrugated Experience,” is the work of local art teacher Michael Wiechmann. Over the past year, Wiechmann has created dozens of paintings using common cardboard as canvases.
Wiechmann works as the Visual Arts teacher at Minnesota Valley Lutheran. It is through his work as an art teacher that he discovered the value of using cardboard as a canvas.
“Painting and making art on cardboard grew out of necessity in my life,” Wiechmann said in his artist statement. “I had a growing number of students taking painting classes and trying to make it work within the art room budget, I started cutting up the cardboard boxes and having students paint on those. What I found is I liked making art on cardboard, and it became a playful and not intimidating surface. There was a low barrier to entry, and the fear of failure was lessened for students.”
Wiechmann realized that he too could benefit from using cardboard. Since cardboard was not as precious as traditional canvases, he was free to experiment and grow his own skills.
Artist Michael Wiechmann describes how he learn to use spray paint in his art. He said spray paint can be a sensitive medium and took many tries to get right. This piece, titled: “The Gift” was one in which he got it right and all his experimenting paid off.
“It is a good way to ‘lift weights,’” Wiechmann said. By practicing on cardboard he was able to get into “artistic shape.”
The cardboard he uses for canvas is often free material that is going to be thrown away. The paints he uses are also relatively cheap. Wiechmann uses mostly house paints and spray paints with cardboard.
It is not unusual for an artist to have a sketchbook to practice before creating an image. That’s how he describes his cardboard art; as one large artist sketchbook. Using a low-cost medium to produce art has given him the freedom to create a large volume of work in a short time. In a single year, he made 32 cardboard art pieces.
There is something of a learning curve when using cardboard.
“You don’t want to press too hard when painting,” Wiechmann said. “Cardboard is sensitive material and shows the corrugation.”
However, some cardboard is extremely smooth. Wiechmann has found that some of his students prefer painting on cardboard because the surfaces are flatter than canvas.
Using spray paint was a challenge. Wiechmann said it was difficult to get the right amount of spray paint on the canvas. Too much paint and ruins details.
He cites “The Gift,” a painting of his wife and children as the best example of using spray paint. However, it took a lot of trial and error to get it just right. He said it took nearly 42 attempts to figure it out.
Wiechmann said his goal is to take what he has learned and return to painting with traditional oil on canvas. However, he acknowledged cardboard will remain in his body of work.
“Cardboard Explorations” will remain on display at The Grand through Feb. 16. In addition to the pieces on display at The Grand, several of Wiechmann’s works are on display at the New Ulm Public Library as part of the “Handle Without Care” art exhibit, located in the adult non-fiction area.
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- Dr. Ann Vogel admires a cardboard sculpture created by Michael Wiechmann. The piece is titled “An Average Week.” Vogel said “I feel that. This is perfect.”
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- Artist Michael Wiechmann describes how he learn to use spray paint in his art. He said spray paint can be a sensitive medium and took many tries to get right. This piece, titled: “The Gift” was one in which he got it right and all his experimenting paid off.