BEMIDJI — Minnesota artist Cameron Zebrun had a challenging decision when it came to college: Did he want to pursue a future in music with his voice or visual arts? Ultimately, he chose visual arts.
“I don't have to have other people to make my art. I could just do it on my own whenever I wanted, and however I wanted.”
Zebrun gained an interest in art in his teens. He would make collages and copy paintings from old masters like Picasso and Van Gogh. Then, he pursued the arts in college with a degree in printmaking.
Zebrun told Area Voices on the KAXE Morning Show after college he found himself without access to printmaking equipment and returned to painting.
'My Wanderlust'
The pieces on display at the Watermark Art Center in his exhibit “My Wanderlust” are a combination of sculpture and painting.
“I realized at some point that I didn't want to paint on rectangular canvases," Zebrun said. "My expression would be about shapes that I would invent and then paint on. I've always built my own surfaces to paint on. It's just something that I have always done and I'll probably always will.”
He begins with the creation of sculptures out of pieces of wood he gets from a lumberyard. The next step is designing sculptures on a CAD program to visually figure out what he’s looking for before going into the shop.
Zebrun described how he creates an armature, or framework, out of two-by-fours or one-by-fours to make the sculptures. Most have a convex shape and his next step is to glue a piece of one-eighth-inch smooth birch plywood to the framework where he will paint.
Zebrun's art eventually appears to be made up of found objects. But they’re not. Everything is made and shaped by Zebrun himself.
He said the sculpture part of the process can take up to 10 days to build. The painting process takes longer. It takes 10 days or even sometimes years.
Nature connection
Zebrun feels his art is a connection with nature because of the wood element. Nature has always interested him, especially nature and the abstract.
In the '90s, he went through a period of trying to create realistic paintings. The work was hard , and not a fit for Zebrun. That’s when he came back to his pillars.
Zebrun artwork comes from his observations of nature. He travels to find inspiration. Interesting landscapes like the North Shore of Lake Superior, the Canadian Rockies, and the Pacific Northwest have all inspired him in the past. Photographs help him capture these beautiful places for future reference.
Kayak pieces
For 20 years Zebrun has been working on pieces that look like kayaks. Some of them will be featured at the Watermark Art Center. In the kayak collection he uses watercolor rather than his usual oil paints.
“Untitled Kayak” was sculpted to look like a waterfall. Where a seat would be expected in a kayak he has a static painting of a waterfall.
“All of my pieces tell a story somehow,” Zebrun added.
The exhibit opens Friday, Aug. 15 with an artist reception from 5 to 7 p.m. and artist talk at 6 p.m.
Zebrun said he enjoys answering questions about his art. He finds people curious about his process and materials used.
Even though Zebrun has been creating art for 40 years, with recent retirement, there is a newfound freedom in his art.
“I feel like it's gotten better because I have more time to spend on it... I'm really focused on that rather than having a full-time job.”
Along with the exhibit at the Watermark Art Center, you can find more of Zebrun’s sculpture and photography on his website.
“I'm very excited about having this show at the Watermark," he said. "I've been working on it for about a year, and it'll be good to see it all come together.”
Tell us about upcoming arts events where you live in Northern Minnesota by emailing psa@kaxe.org.
Area Voices is made possible by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund and the citizens of Minnesota.
