The University of Olivet presents the art exhibition, “Art on the Water,” by Salina Kalnins from October 19, 2023 to November 16, 2023. An artist’s reception will take place on Saturday, October 21, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. The exhibition and reception will be held at the Kresge Foundation Art Gallery inside the Riethmiller Blackman Art Building. The gallery is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Admission is free and open to the public.
After receiving a bachelor’s degree from The University of Olivet in 1998, Kalnins moved to the Florida Keys, becoming an avid boater, deep-sea fisherman, and part-time beachcomber. Combining her painting skills with her love of nature and the ocean, she began painting commissioned works of art for her friends and neighbors of their boats or homes onto nautical charts or old fishing maps.
Kalnins combines the highly detailed aspects of boats, lighthouses, or beach scenes with the appropriate markings of nautical charts, which are the backgrounds for many of her marine landscape paintings. The nautical charts are printed onto canvas, and Kalnins paints the scenes directly onto the surfaces using acrylic paint and other various mixed-media such as colored pencil for fine detail.
Kalnins’s artwork has been featured nationally in Power & Motoryacht Magazine and commissioned by the Milwaukee and Grand Rapids Boat shows. Many of her paintings have been commissioned by private collectors worldwide, including New Zealand and Dubai.
Kalnins has also painted over 200 nautical chart paintings for U.S. Navy service members on deployment worldwide. These nautical chart paintings feature naval vessels, including nuclear destroyers, helicopters, submarines and aircraft carriers painted onto their home ports’ charts. The paintings are given as Change-of-Command gifts or displayed proudly in the ships’ wardrooms. A book was published of the commissioned paintings completed between 2007-2017.
Kalnins has been a full-time artist for almost 10 years. She exhibits her artwork at several summer art fairs and fine art galleries in Michigan. Her studio and business, Art on the Water, is located in Tekonsha, MI.
“Like our lives, large bodies of water are in a constant state of transformation. It can be calm and serene yet turn violent and tumultuous in the blink of an eye. Painting water scenes and waves is challenging for me for this reason. Water in its basic form is clear, yet becomes colorful and exciting if its environment changes. Some of the most beautiful waves are created after the storm has passed,” said Kalnins.
For more information, contact Gary Wertheimer, professor of art, at 269-749-7627 or gwertheimer@UOlivet.edu. Learn more about The University of Olivet by contacting the Office of Admission at 800-456-7189 or admissions@uolivet.edu.