An all expense paid weekend in Manhattan, rubbing shoulders with executives of Marchon, an international eyewear company, that was how Steve Wipfli, a Toledo-based paper collage artist began his retirement.
Spotted by Marchon executives during Wipfli’s second year at ArtPrize, Grand Rapids, Michigan’s renowned international art competition, the retired Ottawa Hills art teacher was invited to participate in a challenge. Create a piece of art with materials sent to him by Marchon. After initial drafts and samples, Wipfli was one of seven artists commissioned to create a work for the company’s Manhattan showroom exhibition, Re-Visions of Art, held this past August.
Looks good on paper
Marchon, a New York City-based eyewear distributor, takes on a philanthropic project annually. Focusing on local and regional artists, the company looked for artists who work with repurposed materials. Marchon scouted Wipfli’s booth and invited him to participate in 2015’s challenge.
“They asked, ‘Would you be interested in creating a piece of art from materials that we would send you?’”, said Wipfli. “ I agreed, and got a box in the mail th
at included lenses, frames‚ the side-bows to frames, their catalogues, promotional materials, old cases, sample lenses with different tints— all kinds of stuff. I was to make a sample piece in a month or two. After a few weeks, I got the email back saying I was one of the artists accepted.”
For the next step, Wipfli had to transform his preliminary sample into a larger, more finished piece. Since Wipfli typically worked with paper, he requested additional paper materials, to complete the his warm-hued, kaleidoscopic work, Refraction, (see left) currently displayed in the Marchon Manhattan showroom.
Detail of Wipfli's piece 'Refraction'
The Big Apple of Marchon eyewear
Marchon flew the retired fine arts and choral instructor, his wife, and four children to New York City to live it up for three days in Manhattan, all on the company’s dime. During the complimentary stay, Wipfli and his family had only one commitment:
“Marchon had an opening night cocktail party for the artists and their clients and business people. It was really a beautiful event, they treated us very well,” said Wipfli. “It was fun to see our pieces hanging in this very beautiful, modern setting… I’ve had some small commissions, just from private individuals, but this was on a completely different level.”
Card-carrying artist
Before retiring from 35 years of teaching in June of 2015, Wipfli began creating his own work after school hours. “Teaching art on a daily basis really fuels your creativity. You’re problem solving, all the time. And my artwork became the product of that,” said Wipfli.
Ten years ago, he began making handmade, individual greeting cards, selling over 100 of the cards at Sylvania’s former American Gallery. The small-scale collages of geometrically-shaped multi-hued paper resemble smaller prototypes for his later work.
“I got a little restless working that small, so I gave myself a goal of working bigger, and bigger. And that’s where my current stuff is now,” explained Wipfli. “It’s not all gigantic, but I’ve moved away from the tiny little collages and I’'m doing more framed flat pieces for wall display, rather than as cards.”
In addition to Manhattan, Wipfli’s work can be seen and purchased at Hudson Gallery, Devoon Boutique, and on the summer art fair circuit that originally brought him national attention.
