KAREN STIEHL OSBORN

Textile / Mixed Media Artist

"Walls"

I love photographing the walls in older buildings. The crumbling bricks and timbers, the peeling paint, the torn signs, the sky showing through the missing mortar --- all combine to make me imagine the history that the walls have seen and the stories that they could tell.

These pieces were inspired by photos taken at the Florence Mill in Florence, Nebraska. Originally it was the Winter Quarters gristmill, built in 1846 by the Mormons. In 1848 the Mormons abandoned the mill, and it was rebuilt by a gold rusher. In 1915 a grain elevator was added. Over the years the mill evolved (at one time it was painted pink), and today it is the oldest standing feed mill in the state and a historical landmark in Florence. Currently the mill is owned by a local artist, who graciously allowed me to spend an afternoon photographing it.

papers, photographs, acrylic paint
Collage size: 5.75"h x 4.5"w

$50 - mounted on 10" x 8" watercolor paper

 

©Karen Stiehl Osborn
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