Father and Daughter Bond through Art

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Adventuring, hiking, fishing, outdoors are some things commonly associated with father-daughter bonding activities. However, for Linnie Brown and Marnius Wolf, their passion for art bonds them even closer together.

Brown and her father Wolf have a new exhibit at the Covey Center in the Eccles Gallery from March 2 to April 25. The artists selected 14 sets of crossword clues and answers and created a painting in response to each set. Brown and Wolf’s paintings are displayed next to each other, with the titles coming directly from the answer to the crossword puzzle.

Courtesy of Linnie Brown

Brown said her and her father’s pieces are predominantly abstract styles but do have some key differences. Wolf uses acrylic paint in fairly thin layers while Brown uses mixed media. In this specific show she used collage, acrylic and oil.

“My dad’s pieces are also very symbolic,” Brown said. “If you ask him about certain paintings, you’ll find out that images that look very non-representational actually have a story behind them and represent specific things.  My paintings are more about process and how different ideas can merge together.”

Wolf said he immigrated from the Netherlands in 1957. In 1958 he joined the Navy and was stationed in Philadelphia. There he went to several art galleries and realized he could do some of the pieces he saw. He studied art a little bit in college, but got a job in manufacturing technology and design. Once he retired he said he started doing his passion again, art.

“I am glad my daughter decided to get this together and do it that way,” Wolf said. “I really enjoy it, it forces me to come out and spend time with my family while improving my art.”

Brown grew up around art and discovered in college that art was something she could do for the rest of her life. Brown said she loves art because of the many ways she can express herself.

“I love that art is so open-ended,” Brown said. “There are so many styles and materials you can use, so much to understand about the history and context of individual pieces and so many different ideas that are communicated through it.”

Erin Ray, 20, is studying art history and curatorial studies at BYU. She said the end results of an art project like this are unique and a good way to explore different artistic experiences.

“A lot of times painters through history had to represent the same figure or the same subject but no two artists did it the same,” Ray said. “You knew they were never going to end the same way but it’s cool to see two representations of the same idea, side by side.”

An opening reception for the exhibit will be held on March 2 from 6 – 9 p.m.

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