Name: "Finding Color In the Chaos" exhibition
Start: 2025-03-07T17:00:00-06:00
Location: 221 King St., Suite 102, Madison, WI, United States, Wisconsin 53703

Carnelian Art Gallery, located at 221 King St., Suite 102, in downtown Madison, is pleased to announce its first art exhibition of the year, titled "Finding Color In the Chaos." The show will kick off with an opening reception at 5 p.m. on Friday, March 7, at the gallery.
As always, light refreshments will be served. ADMISSION IS FREE.
Need help parking? Follow this link for a guide: https://carnelianart.com/planning-your-visit-to-carnelian-art-gallery/
Participating artists include Carnelian Art Gallery's own curator and owner Evan Bradbury, as well as Wisconsin artists Jen Dunlop a.ka. "Jen Sky Art," Matthew Braunginn, Denise Presnell and James Ackerman.
New this year, "Finding Color In the Chaos" will include live painting session by Jen Dunlop, as well as poetry readings by Emilie Heidemann, Carnelian Art Gallery's marketing director. The two worked together over the winter months to create a book, titled "The Secret Realm," that's a collection of poems written in response to 10 of Dunlop's artworks to be displayed as part of the exhibition. This type of call and response art is called ekphrastic art, a rising trend in Madison's art scene.
The live painting session is set to commence at 6 p.m. on Friday, March 7, along with the poetry readings. Heidemann will read five or so poems from "The Secret Realm." Signed hardcover copies of "The Secret Realm" will be available for purchase at the opening reception and beyond. The price for each book is $25.
"I am delighted to have worked with Jen to put together 'The Secret Realm,'" said Heidemann. "This book marks not only a celebration of ourselves as artists, but commemorates Carnelian Art Gallery's one-year anniversary of operations in Madison. There are no words for the amount of gratitude I feel toward the Carnelian Art Gallery team for letting us spread our wings and bring this idea to fruition.
"'Finding Color In the Chaos' is a beautiful metaphor for finding joy when things seem bleak. Whether you attend this exhibition's opening reception, stop by to see it during Carnelian Art Gallery's regular hours or set up an appointment to privately view artworks from the show, doing so will be good for your soul."
"I can't believe Carnelian Art Gallery has been in business for almost one year," said Bradbury. "I want to send a huge thank you to our supporters, partners and the City of Madison for helping us grow. 'Finding Color In the Chaos' is a show you won't want to miss. Please join us."
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Bradbury, when he's not heading up operations at Carnelian Art Gallery, enjoys "making a mess" while painting. He primarily works with acrylic paints, inks, sprays and gouaches to achieve his distinctive abstract style. Bradbury enjoys working on canvases small and large. He's from the Madison area.
Creating art has been a constant companion for Dunlop. The Madison artist has created a series of abstract paintings using tissue paper, glue and iridescent acrylic paints. Her personal mantra is "paint just to paint." She hopes to capture enchanted beauty, mystery and intrigue one brushstroke at a time. It’s a spiritual practice for her.
Braunginn, of Madison, is an emerging abstract expressionist painter. His abstract paintings express complex emotions and experiences. Braunginn mainly uses acrylic paints on wood and standard canvases to achieve each color’s deep yet vibrant opacity, as well as each distinguished pattern. Some of Braunginn’s paintings depict rounded shapes, while others sharply study three dimensional perspectives. Even more are circular.
Presnell, of Sheboygan, is a painter and mixed media artist. Her current work has evolved into a type of surrealism through biomorphic shapes, according to her website. The shapes arise from intuitive gestural drawing. She never has a plan. Presnell instead trusts her sense of color and composition to arrive at something new. Spontaneity is key for her process.
Ackerman, of Middleton, is an abstract expressionist artist examining the interaction of lines, shapes and color, according to his website. Painting abstracts can be compared to designing and assembling a giant jigsaw puzzle, he writes. Ackerman's paintings usually begin unplanned, sometimes with a general idea or color combination. Then, he adds and subtracts different elements until they evolve into a more definitive composition.