Schmiede Wettig in Nieder-Olm has been home to blacksmiths from 1577 until well into the last century. (It’s now preserved as a time-warped 1920s working forge).

The stable and outbuildings were converted to a gallery-concert-literary readings space in the 1996 and that’s where Ulla Nelles-Halft held a private viewing of her exhibition tonight.

It’s been interesting to see her development (both in style and commercial terms) over the past 20 years – our first purchase was a small watercolour at an artists’ market in 1988 for perhaps DM25. €13.

Entry level last night was €300, with the photo-realistic “Fresh Figs” (I wish I had a wall big enough to do it justice) was €1200.

Her skills are formidable, despite her lack of formal training and – this isn’t in the least derogatory – painting as a sideline to bringing up 2 kids by herself since her husband’s sudden and untimely death.

She uses depth of field in her still-lifes for goodness sake..! The only “sharp” point on the canvas is the tip of the fig at the bottom of the picture.

And she touches on action painting with an understatement that reminds one of the patterns and structures in Harris Tweed fabric

A quite excellent introduction by a local art teacher, a buffet and a bar with lots of locals out and about for the event.

An excellent evening

The wine was a bit dodgy, though.
One small glass of a local Dornfelder and I’m feeling decidedly fragile this a.m.

11 Aug This entry was published on 11 August, 2007 at 06:55. It’s filed under Mainz and tagged nieder-olm, schmiede wettig, ulla nelles-halft. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post.