Photography & Art Show @ the Osage Branch

Bill Wirtel and Sharon Lueckenhoff are the featured artists at the Osage County Library from April 5 through May 27. Join us in the Woodland Art Gallery to enjoy a variety of photography, paintings, and artwork.

Bill Wirtel is a local freelance photographer. His interest in photography and trains began in elementary school. His first photographs were taken with a Kodak Instamatic camera. Over the years Bill’s skills developed and his interests expanded.  Today he enjoys taking photographs of people, places, and things, including sporting events, concerts, wildlife, and the occasional train. Bill lives in Linn with his 7 year old son, Gavin. 

Art is a very important part of Sharon Lueckenhoff’s life. She has been interested in drawing and painting for as long as she can remember. She was born and grew up in Jefferson City, Missouri. She attended St. Peter’s and St. Joseph’s schools and went on to graduate from Jefferson City High School. While attending high school, Sharon took Art 1 through Art 4. Those classes introduced her to a variety of arts and crafts. Oil painting piqued her interest the most at the time. Acrylic paints were new and not as available as oil paints. Not much information was available about acrylic at the time. After graduation, Sharon joined the workforce by working for the Division of Employment Security. Her art was not a profession but did remain as a wonderful pastime. She did not spend a lot of time painting until years later. A friend encouraged Sharon to craft paint on things other than canvas. She painted on enamel spoons, cups, saucers, and small saw blades, to name a few. By this time, she had tinkered with acrylics and found them to be very easy to work with, mainly because they dry very fast. She could do the detail work so much easier than with oils. Sharon was hooked! She experimented with painting on various items; even turtle shells that she found on walks. She has painted many ornaments for sale and gifts at Christmas time. These small paintings were typically winter scenes with barns and mountains. The paint she used for the ornaments and any glassware was acrylic enamel. Sharon has painted with oils in classes offered locally by Janis Bergin and are in the “Bob Ross” style. Sharon’s preferred type of painting is landscape, mainly with barns. Both oils and acrylic make beautiful landscape paintings. Her paintings are sometimes from photographs but more from imagination. Sharon has entered her paintings in local art competitions and won several ribbons. She has won honorable mention ribbons in the Missouri State Fair competition and paints for commission occasionally.

Gallery hours are 9 a.m. -6 p.m. Monday-Friday and 9 a.m. - 1 p.m. Saturday. Closed Sunday.