Trees. We see them every day, but do people really appreciate their beauty and the essential role they play?
Through her pastel paintings, Denise Bunkert offers a meditative journey through trees. Her work will be featured Aug. 18 through Sept. 26 at Ripple River Gallery near Bay Lake. The public is invited to meet the artist during the gallery’s annual fall open house and benefit for Wild and Free Wildlife Rehabilitation Organization on Saturday, Sept. 25.
Representing life, growth, peace and nature, trees are essential to survival, offering clean air, shade and shelter, food and carbon capture. Bunkert’s paintings offer a glimpse into the mysteries of the woods as a community and as individuals on a path. Like exploring the layers of a tree’s bark, with pastel she builds layers of color and texture, creating depth “to reveal a path to inner workings of heart, soul and nature.”
Bunkert, who lives and works in Savage, was awarded several commissions for paintings for the Minnesota Children’s Hospitals and the Make-A-Wish Foundation in Minneapolis and St. Paul. Her paintings are in the permanent collection of the Minnesota Children’s Hospitals, Regions Hospital, the Lake Nokomis Clinic and the Mother Baby Center. She exhibits regularly at local juried arts events and shares her passion for art by teaching painting workshops to children and adults at local art centers.
Ripple River Gallery is open from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday; and 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Sundays. The gallery is located five miles south of Deerwood on Hwy. 6, then 3 miles east of Ruttger’s Bay Lake Lodge on County Road 14 to Partridge Ave.