Ben and Joanne Marxhausen stand with some of Ben’s paintings, currently on display at the Red Path Gallery in Seward.
For Ben Marxhausen, art is more than colors and shapes on a canvas.
It’s opening the mind.
His show “Art Is Life and Life Is An Art” is currently at the Red Path Gallery and Tasting Room in Seward. He will be talking about his philosophy and his work Sundays, Aug. 17, Sept. 21 and Oct. 19, at the Gallery. Each presentation begins at 2 p.m.
Marxhausen said his first talk will begin with children’s scribbles and how they change to more realistic drawings. The other two will focus more on developmental stages and how art fits in.
He describes his own style as “intuitive abstract.” He does not begin with an idea; instead he just paints.
“Applying paint without plan feels risky but is exhilarating as colors and shapes evolve into meaning,” he said in an artist’s statement.
“It’s the feeling of God within,” he added July 31.
He said each piece begins with the Holy Spirit, which works through his hand, to the brush, to the paint, to the canvas. Marxhausen’s response to each finished piece is “what have I done?”
“He paints them, and I see things in them,” his wife Joanne said.
She usually names the pieces, they said. Once a piece is finished and Joanne looks at it, they talk about the work and what it means.
Ben Marxhausen is retired from Concordia University, Irvine, Calif., where he was an associate professor of art and Art Department chair. He also taught at Concordia College, St. Paul, Minn. He earned his undergraduate degree at Concordia-Seward in 1958.
He met his wife Joanne (Prochnow) while at Concordia-Seward. Joanne is from Seward, where her parents, Al and Lillian, owned the Style Craft store, which was located where JD’s Coffee Shop is now.
Ben’s brother was Reinhold Marxhausen, who taught art at Concordia-Seward from 1951 to his retirement in 1989.
Ben’s show will be on display at the Red Path Gallery through October.
