'I think we're really good together – apart'

 

August 7, 2022

Marione Martin

Where Cally Krallman (left) sees a compelling detailed landscape, Bev Radefeld see brilliant colors and interesting shapes. Two Visions – One Prairie, their traveling show, is displayed during August at Graceful Arts Gallery in Alva.

Any two people looking at the same thing may see something entirely different. Each will focus on features relating to their experience, background or interests. Those differences are even more apparent when two artists using the same medium interpret the same scene.

During August the Graceful Arts Gallery in downtown Alva is displaying "Two Visions – One Prairie," an exhibit that explores the diverse interpretation of two artists looking at the same landscape. The idea came out of a friendship between two women who appreciate each other's artistic styles.

Both Cally Krallman and Beverly Dodge Radefeld are graduates of Washburn University, Topeka, with fine arts degrees and both live in Topeka, Kansas. Both have careers involving art and both paint in oils. But they have completely different views when translating a scene to canvas.

Cally Krallman

Krallman grew up in far western Kansas on a farm near Goodland. "I came from a very small community, kind of like Alva actually," she said. She attended the "very last" one-room schoolhouse in Kansas.

Her aunt was an artist, and Krallman thought "that sounds like kind of a fun career." She said that's when she decided she wanted to make a living creating artwork. Her interest led her to Washburn University in the eastern part of the state.

"When I came to the city (Topeka) it was kind of overwhelming, but I enjoyed going to Washburn University." She graduated in 1981 with a degree in fine arts.

She worked as a commercial artist for about 22 years and then transitioned into fine art which she's been doing or about 28 years. "I just gave away my age," she said with chagrin. In her latest career, she's shown her work throughout the Midwest. She has done some national and international shows as well.

Beverly Dodge Radefeld

After Krallman divulged her age, Radefeld said she was much older. She graduated from Washburn University in an earlier decade, also earning a bachelor's degree in fine art.

"I started Washburn because I took one of those tests that you take before you go to college that tells you what you'd like to do," she said. Having told her parents she intended to go to college, she found, "I had no idea what I wanted to do."

After graduation, Radefeld went to work for the Menninger Foundation as an activities therapist "which I loved." That ended when she began a family and stayed home with the children. However, she continued to work in the family electronics business. But always in the background of her busy life was the art she loved.

Over the years, Radefeld became interested in soft sculpture. She was making puppets to work with kids who were sick and in the hospital. She also had a son who developed leukemia. Radefeld had a friend who owned the Osage County Quilt Factory. Her friend asked her to come and show what she was doing. She went and a whole world of soft sculpture art opened.

"I've shown dolls in two places in England, Ireland, Japan, all over the United States," she said. "I still enjoy that every much but as you hit old age, the arthritis takes some of that agility from the fingers. So I'm doing mostly paintings now and enjoying every bit of it."

Collaborating for a Show

Although they lived in the same city, the two artists didn't know each other until Krallman decided to put together a traveling all-women's show. "That was about 2015, I think," said Krallman.

She knew of Radefeld's work but this was the first time they met. Then Radefeld took a couple of Krallman's workshops, and their friendship grew.

"I was always fascinated about how our styles were so different because we could be looking at the same thing and I'm like 'what are you seeing here? I'm not seeing what you're seeing,'" said Krallman. "I'm more representational, and she has a way of abstracting things in such a beautiful way."

They were bringing artwork back from an exhibit when the idea for the show came about. "We're always stopping to photograph, you know, for the money shot," said Krallman. "So I brought up the idea. What if we painted the same places and did an entire show of those works.

"That's how it got started, and it became a traveling show. So we're very happy to have it in Alva, Oklahoma, in this wonderful gallery. It's a beautiful show."

"It's hung magnificently," added Radefeld. The display features each set of works, one above the other, to show each artistic interpretation.

"I have to point out that my husband always said, 'Why can't you paint like Cally?'" said Radefeld. "And I can't, I can't do it. I just do my own thing. My family loves her work."

"But it's a nice contrast," said Krallman.

Prairie Inspiration

Why did the two artists choose prairie scenes for their work? Radefeld said, "The prairie has such a broad expanse, and I see color no matter what I do. I really enjoy painting it, but putting color in places that other people really can't see it. I see shapes rather than the realistic that Cally does."

Of their painting styles, she said, "They're very different, and we get along. We love the traveling to places and stopping. She calls it the money shot. You can be driving along and other people wouldn't see anything. She sees the money shot, and I see the color. I think we're really good together – apart."

Krallman is drawn to the prairie from her early life as a farm girl. "We had about a 1500 acre farm which we had free roam of, which was (to) roam wherever we wanted as long as we made it back for a meal. So I really connected early to the land, the earth."

"Of course, in western Kansas there's like four trees so when I moved to eastern Kansas, I was enamored by all these beautiful trees and the Flint Hills," she said. "I enjoy combining the rolling hills, the creeks. I love to paint creeks and water."

"Her water is magnificent," interjected Radefeld.

"I think from an early age being on the farm and having that connection to the soil, it's in me and always will be," said Krallman. "I do paint other things, but it's always the landscape that inspires me."

You can learn more about Radefeld's soft sculpture dolls as well as her varied artwork on her website at http://www.BeverlyDodgeRadefeld.com. Krallman enjoys traveling to different states for her landscapes as well as some figure works. Her website for Prairie Sage Studio is http://www.CallyKrallman.com.

A video of the two artists may be seen at http://www.AlvaReviewCourier.com.

 

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