Ephraim, Wis. (August 7, 2020) — Fine Line Designs Gallery continues their 2020 season with their second exhibit, which opens Thursday, August 6. Exhibit II features two Door County-based artists: ceramic sculpture artist Stephanie Evans and oil painter Pamela Murphy. Both will be in attendance at the exhibit’s artist reception, which takes place Thursday evening from 4:00 pm to 7:00 pm. Evans and Murphy will be joined by Dagmara Costello, a Milwaukee-based jewelry artist. Costello will also be at Fine Line for a trunk show on Friday, August 7 and Saturday August 8 from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm each day.
For years, Pamela Murphy has been collecting old photographs and choosing figures from them — be it people, barns, or animals — to incorporate into her paintings. The people whose lives are recorded in her paintings are strangers, and yet, they seem familiar to us — and this is the goal of Murphy’s work. She plucks these figures from their original contexts and places them on rich and textured backgrounds, sometimes patterned, sometimes floral — and in doing so, recreates them as icons for us as viewers to not only enjoy, but to see a personal connection between ourselves and the subjects on the canvas. “Each person who views these works brings with them their own specific histories or contexts,” Murphy says. “A single subject — can mean different things to different people — but the idea is for someone to see a bit of themselves.”
Stephanie Evans also has a familiar form — the dress — that she uses to convey the lives of her imagined wearers. She treats each individual dress as its own protagonist, placing objects and carving reliefs into the forms, the details existing to tell a story that’s up to the viewer. This storytelling is also why Evans prefers not to include a physical form or body with these dresses, but to imply it — lending an element of mystery and human yearning to each of her pieces. Part of her work for the Fine Line show is a
debut of more botanical and nautical-inspired motifs into her work, full of the same striking detail and texture. “In this way, I’m no different than a writer who creates a character by giving them thoughts and experiences,” she says. “These characters are full of history and stories — it’s up to you to decide just what that story is.”
Dagmara Costello, who will be at Fine Line for the first weekend of the exhibit, studied art and design in Europe, and first started creating jewelry in her hometown of Krakow, Poland before relocating to the United States. Her contemporary yet simplistic jewelry is made of unexpected combinations, with sterling silver, 14-karat gold, diamonds, pearls, rubber, nylon, and recycled glass playing a role at any given time. The result is jewelry that’s unconventional as much as it is functional, and conceptual as much as it is wearable. “I see beauty and potential for one-of-a-kind pieces in almost everything I find,” Costello says. “My jewelry is for those who have a self-possessed sense of style, embrace off-beat and fun creations, and seek originality.”
The gallery continues to take protocols to keep its employees, artists, and gallery visitors safe, including practicing physical distancing at the gallery, having employees wear masks, and requiring others to do the same when visiting the gallery. “We ask those who plan on attending our receptions and events to check out our website in case of last-minute adjustments.” says Shari Gransee, Fine Line’s owner.
Exhibit II will run through Tuesday, September 1, with the final exhibit of the season set to begin that same week on Saturday, September 5. Exhibit III will feature the work of Dean Bradshaw, Terri Beck-Engel, Bonnie Paruch, and Dave Turner.
Fine Line Designs Gallery, located in scenic Door County, is housed in a 1950s chicken coop that was renovated in 1999 and turned into a multi-level gallery space. The gallery showcases seasonal, monthly rotating exhibitions, highlighting the works of selected artists along with the general display of works by over 100 regional and nationally acclaimed artists. The gallery features original paintings, glass, jewelry, clay, custom wood furnishings, sculpture, and fiber rich in color and texture in addition to a two-acre sculpture garden adorned with pieces created from bronze, stone, metal, copper, and stainless steel. For more information, please visit www.finelinedesignsgallery.com or call (920) 854-4343
ALL CONTENT © 2025 BY DOOR GUIDE PUBLISHING
