For Star Journal

Rhinelander ArtStart’s winter exhibition is now open with Mountain, the works of artist Stephen Hilyard and Portfolio, by artist, Michael Dinges. Mountain is a series of five digital images of generic mountains generated from photographs of lava cone formations in Iceland. The works are not images of particular mountains, but create an experience.

“All my work relates in some way to a quality of experience that has been described as ‘The Sublime,’” Hilyard said. “My interest in digital media is focused on its ever-growing capabilities to simulate the world around us, not as it is, but as we wish it to be.”

Hilyard is currently a Professor of Digital Arts at the University of Wisconsin-Madison where he creates artwork in a variety of media. His work has been exhibited across the United States and abroad.

In Portfolio, Dinges uses recycled Apple computers and PVC pipe as media to create engravings that evoke “the impact of industry and globalization on our culture.”

“In my art practice, by drawing parallels through the use of scale and materials, I want to ask the viewers to contemplate their own relationship to their social and physical environment,” Dinges said. The artist lives and works in Oak Park, Illinois.

The community is invited to the opening reception Saturday, December 5 at 5 p.m. followed by a family-oriented “Arty Party” at 6 p.m.

For information on this and other ArtStart programs visit www.ArtStartRhinelander.org.