Milwaukee, WI – For many years, artist Judith Friebert has focused on depicting family-owned dairy farms. At MOWA on the Lake, 1840 North Prospect Avenue, Milwaukee WI, Musings on Dairy Farms: Pastels by Judith M. Friebert is On View through June 23.
Image: Judith M. Friebert, Cows at Rest, Cooper’s Farm, 2011
As a child, she accompanied her parents—the Milwaukee artists Joseph and Betsy Ritz Friebert—on sketching trips in the countryside. They were often drawn to Wisconsin’s legendary dairy farms.
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Friebert captures the essential elements of a working farm—the animals and the land that supports them— with pastel and charcoal applied to paper with deft, nervous lines and a subtle palette.
Challenged by the ever-changing shapes of cows against fields, skies, and farmhouses, she works on site, then refines and completes her drawings in her studio.
The farmers were friendly and pleased to have their land admired in this way. Years later, living in Massachusetts, Friebert began to explore this subject again. Moving back to her native state five years ago, she found similar pastoral subjects to portray, although not nearly as many as before: in the current era of corporate dairy farming, small farms struggle to survive.
Friebert aims to capture not the picturesque but, rather, essential elements of a working farm: the animals and the land that supports them. She finds cows particularly interesting, challenged by… click HERE to read the rest of the story.
Visit MOWA on the Lake – a satellite site of the Museum of Wisconsin Art, located in Saint John’s Museum Gallery
Open to the public daily from 10 a.m. – 7 p.m.
