The work of artist Lynn Kaatz, an Elyria native, will be featured at Gallery One in Mentor.
Lynn Kaatz has had a lifelong reverence and admiration for the natural world that he has beautifully captured in hundreds of detailed, vivid wildlife and landscape paintings.
One of the Elyria native’s most fervent wishes is that today’s youngsters would be moved enough to get out and enjoy it.
“I’ve spent a lot of time in the woods with wild animals,” Kaatz, 67, said by phone Wednesday from his home in the St. Augustine, Fla., area.
“I just love God’s creation, and if there’s any place I’d rather be, it’s in the woods, just sitting there and taking it in,” Kaatz said. “That’s what I delight in most.”
Sadly, Kaatz knows his love affair with nature isn’t shared by a lot of folks these days, especially kids.
“Young people are trapped indoors on their computers, iPods and Nintendos, and I just wish they’d get outdoors a little more and realize what’s out there,” he said.
An estimated 120 original works by Kaatz, including many wildlife and nature watercolors, will go on sale during a month-long “retirement exhibition” sponsored by Mentor’s Gallery One that begins Sept. 28.
“They do a beautiful job,” Kaatz said of the well-known art gallery, with which he has been associated since the early 1980s. “They are nationally regarded.”
Kaatz was quick to point out that he’s not putting down his paint brushes for good.
“I’m just retiring from doing painting after painting,” he said. “I threw paint around for almost 50 years. There are these other things I want to do. I’m trying to take it easy.”
Those things include spending time with grandchildren, helping out at his church, traveling and performing “handyman” work.
Twice named winner of the Ohio “Duck Stamp” competition sponsored by Ducks Unlimited, Kaatz’s artistic repertoire is an extensive one, including ducks, geese, and other waterfowl, dogs, songbirds, horses, deer, moose, bear and seascapes.
Prices will range from $300 to $400 to $1,000 to $1,500, according to the artist.
Visit the gallery
Gallery One is at 7003 Center St. in Mentor between Interstate 90 and state Route 2. For more information about Kaatz’s artwork, visit www.galleryone.com or call (440) 255-1200 or (800) 621-1141.
Contact Steve Fogarty at 329-7146 or sfogarty@chroniclet.com.
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