Legendary and Fantastical tales at Mazza

FINDLAY — Findlay's Mazza Museum is showcasing a selection of the world's finest fantasy artists in its 11th annual Enchanted Brush exhibit, through Aug. 29. This year's exhibit, free and open to the public, is located in the Lea Gallery of UF's Gardner Fine Arts Pavilion "The reason I wanted this show to happen here and be free and open to the public every year, is because I wanted people to not have to travel that far to see a world class work of art," explained the director of curation and exhibitions at Mazza and founder of the Enchanted Brush exhibition Dan Chudzinski. "Here, you can walk into the gallery and see so many." Only a guest artist for the museum at the time, in the summer of 2015 Mazza contacted Chudzinski with help in filling a gallery. At a dinner with around 20 fantasy artists in Kansas City, Missouri, the idea for the exhibit was born. "I pitched an idea to them," Chudzinski said. "I said, 'If you could create your favorite fairytale character into a work of art using any medium you wanted without an art director telling you what that needed to look like, what would you make?' I knew we had something when the restaurant staff kicked us out at closing and we were still talking about this idea." Three months after the launch of the exhibit, Chudzinski became the next curator for the Mazza Museum. He has since curated the exhibit for 11 years. Each year, the exhibit features a different theme, with this year's being "Legendary." "Each year, they know that the theme is going to deal with illustration. Since illustration interprets a text, that aligns nicely to our mission at the Mazza Museum, which is to promote literacy through the work of picture book illustration," Chudzinski said. The exhibit features 27 works of art, representing 22 international fantasy artists in art forms such as oil painting, scratchboard and bronze sculpture. The theme brings light to the connection between fantasy artwork and great literature, and how they both transcend time. "Fantasy artwork is actually the earliest example of human artwork that we are aware of. It goes back to the Paleolithic era," Chudzinski said. "We're talking about a time that predated the word. Those illustrations conveyed history and the narrative, and made sure that it lived on. It had to be powerful enough that people would remember it or could interpret it visually." Among the featured pieces is "St. Petroch and the Dragon," an oil painting by Scott Gustafon depicting the legend of St. Petroch, a monk in sixth century Wales and a dragon. The story displays the distraught dragon upsetting nearby residents, confronted by Petroch, he discovers that a splinter was caught in the dragon's eye and needed help. The piece illustrates Petroch removing the splinter and the dragon leaving the village in peace. Other work from artist Gustafson includes tea box artwork for Celestial Seasonings for the Saturday Evening Post, children's book illustrations and five illustrated books. "Scott Gustafson, he's somebody that I met exhibiting many years ago, actually back in Kansas City," Chudzinski said. "We knew each other through the fantasy art circuit. He happens to have illustrated five picture books that are in print at the moment and they're excellent, so we had sought out his work for the collection." Other featured oil paintings in the exhibit include "Arthur in Battle" and "Arthur Knights Lancelot," both created by artist Don Maitz. "I've known Don for a long time," Chudzinski said. "I actually used to have a calendar of his artwork hanging on my wall when I was a kid. Don's been a long time contributor, so we're lucky to have him in the lineup again, as well as his wife Janny." Maitz is the original creator of the Captain Morgan Spiced Rum character and award winning cover-artist for more than 300 books, magazines, game art, and advertising for National Geographic, DC & Marvel Comics, Paramount, Warner Pictures, and more. He has won the science fiction's Hugo Award for Best Artist two times, and has exhibited in over 40 museums. Chudzinski noted that the exhibit also features several "cryptids," creatures whose existence is not yet scientifically proven. Among these is a sculpture by Chudzinski himself depicting the Loveland, Ohio Frogman. "After seeing the interest in museum visitors in seeing these cryptids, and also my own inner four-year-old wanting to see them desperately, I decided to pursue a body of work where I am creating these in hyper-realistic detail," Chudzinski said. Three other pieces include a jackalope, a jackrabbit creature with antelope horns. These are in the forms of an oil painting by Alan Douglas, and a skeleton and sculpture by Chudzinski. Other participating artists in the exhibit are Iris Compiet, Allen Douglas, Quintin Gleim, Scott Gustafson, James Herrmann, Kelley Hensing, Elliot Lang, Ashly Lovett, Don Maitz, Jason Mowry, Reiko Murakami, Colin Nitta, Kristine Poole, Ruth Sanderson, Danny Schwartz, Chris Sickles, Andrew Sides, Melissa Stanley, Alex Stone, Jeremy Wilson, and Janny Wurts. A reception will be held on Tuesday, July 15, from 7 to 8:30 p.m. in the Lea Gallery, with a gallery tour and featured artists in attendance to discuss their work. Most of the artwork on display will be available for purchase, with 100% of proceeds going to the artists. "It's a tremendous honor to host the work of these artists," Chudzinski said. "It's a testament to the show and to the university's collection in the Mazza Museum that they continue to contribute each year." For more information, visit mazzamuseum.org.