Larry Welo

Minnesota

ARTIST'S STATMENT

Known primarily as a printmaker, Welo recently turned his eye towards painting, usually on location or "en plein air." His subject matter includes paintings of landscapes near his home and studio in Wisconsin, as well as neighboring states.

Throughout my career as an artist, I have been known as a printmaker specializing in etchings. Over the years, I have worked in other media, but it has always been with the idea that the end result will be printmaking. Oil paintings were done quickly and as preliminary studies for etchings. Late in 2011, I made the decision to begin oil painting in earnest, practicing it every day and seeing the paintings as becoming finished works instead of preliminary studies. As with etching, I prefer to work on my paintings on location while the subject is before me. The immediacy of the translation from life to art is important to me. There is a connection that occurs between mind, hand, and subject.

A long-time gallery artist, Larry Welo's work is included in the New York Public Library Print Department, the Butler Institute of American Art, the Library of Congress, The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, the Minnesota History Center, the New Orleans Museum of Art, The Joslyn Art Museum, the Des Moines Art Center and the Cedar Rapids Art Museum. Welo is a graduate of Luther College.