The Cottage by Breehan James is on display at the Arts + Literature Laboratory June 3 through August 12, 2022. There will be an artists reception on Friday, June 3, 2022 from 6-8pm with an artist talk beginning at 7 pm.
Gallery hours are Tuesday-Friday 10am-5pm and Saturday 12-5pm (free). The galleries will be closed July 9, 2022. Please check our current COVID-19 safety guidelines before your visit.
Artist Statement
My late-grandfather and his seven children built this cottage in the 1960s as a retreat for family and friends to experience a togetherness in nature. I have been visiting this cottage for my entire life which is now shared by three generations of family. The paintings function as a portrait of this specific place which has been frozen in time. A place that is isolated yet so connected to a shared experience throughout generations. A retreat, a space for reflection in nature, recreation, play, and ultimately a place that fuels the imagination and spirit. The paintings are being published into a book that functions as a tour to unfold the inside and outside of this cottage and to invite each reader into this cottage. It is a celebration of American "Up North" Wisconsin cottage culture and a reflection of time, memory and experience. I have been making paintings of this cottage for the past 15 years. The reason I started to make this series into a book form is I became excited by a books' potential for interiority and its ability to feel intimate. The unfolding of a space and the sequence of pictures working from outside to inside and flowing between details and wider views of the cottage and the surrounding forest and lake.
