Nursing home residents serve as inspiration for ‘Venus Talks’ exhibit

A 90-something nursing home resident named Lola became something of a muse for sculptor Michaela Valli Groeblacher of Lindsborg.

A few years ago, Groeblacher set up in a nursing home with her clay and tools and began sculpting life-size figures. Lola was a little skeptical at first but soon grew to love her new modeling gig and was pleased when Groeblacher’s finished piece went on display.

“The nursing home would bring the real Lola to the exhibit,” Groeblacher said. “She was the real star.”

Then Groeblacher’s piece sold to a museum: “I was elated – and she was heartbroken.”

So Groeblacher decided to do another Lola sculpture, called “Lola Dancing With Arnie,” which has the diminutive figure wearing a tiara and a blue ball gown, arms outstretched as if she were dancing with her love. “Lola Dancing With Arnie” serves as the representational image of “Venus Talks,” an exhibit of Groeblacher’s work that runs through Oct. 30 at the Fiber Studio on South Commerce Street.

Most of the figures exhibited are of elderly women and most were nursing home residents.

Groeblacher, an assistant professor of art at McPherson College, chose the exhibit name because of the focus on women and because of her desire to generate discussion.

“My grandmother was my goddess,” she said. “There are so many moments when I want to talk to her. I want young women to have a chance to talk to some older, cool women.”

On Friday evening, Groeblacher will give young women that chance as she leads an intergenerational discussion at the Fiber Studio. She wants to get people talking about how women’s roles in society have changed in the last three generations. She wants them to ponder and share the things they do or did to fit in. Groeblacher will ask young women what they want older women to know about their lives today, and she will ask older women what their advice is for younger women. The attendees will discuss these issues surrounded by Groeblacher’s realistic sculptures.

To keep that realism, Groeblacher adds clothing and accessories to her pieces but never hair. She says it looks fake.

“My faces are well known because they are so real,” she said. “I want people to look into my people’s faces.”

One regal sculpture is titled “Mary Philomene.” Groeblacher has created her with a halo made out of paint brushes and has sculpted the base to look like a tree trunk.

“I like to compare people to trees,” she said. “As we age, we come stiffer and sturdier, but we become very well rooted.”

She also sees a majesty in aging.

“Only old people in my opinion can be magnificent,” she said. “It’s the same with the trees. … We gather round the tree and it shelters us, like we go to the grandmother at Thanksgiving.”

There are stories to each of Groeblacher’s pieces, and she will be at the studio Friday to tell them all.

“I just use their expression and their bodies to tell what I want to tell,” Groeblacher said.

This story was originally published September 17, 2015 at 2:38 PM with the headline "Nursing home residents serve as inspiration for ‘Venus Talks’ exhibit."