“Chairs 2” by Emily Winkel, a Greenwood artist painting in a variety of mediums, including watercolor, gouache, pastels and oils. Winkel’s work will be featured at the Southside Art League’s Off Broadway Gallery throughout the month of May.
Even from central Indiana, it’s easy to picture the lapping waves, towering forests and brisk lake breezes.
Emily Winkel has come to this slice of paradise on the Lake Michigan shoreline all her life. She first experienced it as a child growing up in Michigan, spending summers at Camp Arcadia in the northern part of the state every year since she was 6 months old. As she’s grown, she had returned year after year to visit with family, and to introduce it to her own children.
Though Winkel is a Hoosier now, those vistas and memories live on every day in her art.
“It’s so beautiful, mostly peaceful scenery — a place to step away from the world and rest,” she said. “Painting it is a way for my mind and my heart to revisit it, when I need it.”
The Lake Michigan shoreline plays an outsized part of Winkel’s artwork, but her creativity extends to other subjects and styles too. From portraits of pets and people to gauzy, florals, the Greenwood resident employs watercolor, gouache and pastel to bring wondrous vistas to life for viewers.
Winkel will showcase her varying paintings during her one-artist exhibition at the Southside Art League throughout the month of May.
Her aim is to get people to have a “pause” moment to appreciate the world around them, and inspire them to see the awe around us all.
“That’s my motto — stop and appreciate this moment,” she said. “I’m looking for people to stop, not worry about what’s going on around them, stop and smell the flowers, stop and enjoy the beach for a moment.”
Winkel grew up immersed in art. She started drawing and painting as a child; when her family would take long car trips, she would doodle to pass the time.
“I was one of those kids that really loved it, and my parents encouraged me,” she said. “They indulged my interest as a kid, and I never had to trade it to do something else.”
As she grew into a teenager, Winkel realized art was something she wanted to do as a career. She took classes at a local art center, working with a professional artist who tutored her and helped her develop her style. Saturdays were spent amassing a portfolio of different artwork, which Winkel used to get accepted into college.
She earned a bachelor’s degree in fine art in illustration from Kendall College of Art in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and has worked in art every since.
“There was nothing else that I imagined doing,” she said.
Throughout her career, Winkel has focused on commissioned portraits, both for people and for their pets. Much of her time is spent creating artwork for customers, wielding her talents to make something memorable for people.
Her own work tends to employ watercolor and other media to paint realistic scenes with a soft, almost dream-like touch to them.
“They’re real-ish — a painted reality. I’m not a hyper-realism person, because to me, I want to be able to look at something and tell that it’s a painting,” she said.
Some of favorite works stem from her time at Camp Arcadia. The 100-year-old Christian family retreat is situated on the shores of Lake Michigan, offering swimming, hiking, crafts and other activities.
“I go back every year. Now, my husband and I go, my sister and her two babies go with her husband. We’re going at the same as my parents this year. It’s this wonderful getaway,” she said. “And I’ve continued to paint it.”
Through Winkel’s paintings, it’s easy to see the appeal of the retreat. High-backed Adirondack chairs sit on the sandy beach, facing a smoldering sunset. The camp’s iconic Chapel on the Beach Cross, crafted from metal and wood, serves to focus another fiery sunset lingering over the lake. Sandy breaks in the beach grass lead to a beach view of clouds bunched over the serene waters.
Her appreciation of the setting has caught the eyes of buyers, as well as leadership at Camp Arcadia.
“They actually commissioned me to do a set of paintings of the camp. It was like a dream come true for me,” she said.
Winkel plans to include a number of her Lake Michigan pieces in the upcoming Southside Art League exhibition, in addition to pet and personal portraits that she’s been commissioned to make and are being loaned back for the show. Earlier this year, she completed a set of florals inspired by the flowers in her mother’s garden in southwest Michigan.
“Over the years, I’ve taken a ton of photos of the flowers, and in the last year, I’ve started painting them,” she said. “They’re beautiful as well, and have some of the same effect that the camp paintings have — someone looks at it, and finds a little bit of restfulness, a little bit of peace in it.”
The exhibition is on display now, and will hang in the Southside Art League’s Off Broadway Gallery through May 31. Winkel will host a reception on May 10 to meet with the community and discuss her work.
AT A GLANCE
Emily Winkel one-artist exhibition
What: An art show featuring works in watercolor, gouache, pastels and oils by Winkel, a Greenwood artist.
When: Through May 31
Where: Southside Art League Off Broadway Gallery, 299 E. Broadway St., Greenwood
Gallery hours: 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday
Reception: Winkel will host an open house reception from 6 to 8 p.m. May 10. Light refreshments will be served.
