Above, "Consider the Lilies," by Steven Magstadt
Article by Marsha Braun
A Catalogue of Lesser Saints by Steven Magstadt will be on display
July 7 through September 9, 2011. This exhibition features a series of paint-collage pieces that are
accompanied by stories and poems, inspired by the artist’s love of his community and its people. The
exhibition will be on display at the Andersen Enrichment Center, 120 Ezra Rust, across from Ojibway
Island in Saginaw. Exhibit hours are 9 a.m. until 3 p.m., Monday through Friday.
A Catalogue of Lesser Saints is the beginning of a new series which will continue to develop through the
fall and winter of this year. Photographs of the area and the citizens of its unwanted shadows and corners
are taken by the artist, disassembled, then reassembled to make a single image which is then overdrawn
and overpainted, sometimes including found text or objects, to create a new image that draws attention to
otherwise invisible persons or things.
Steven Magstadt is a Michigan native who grew up in Houston, lived in Colorado and Norway and
returned to the area because “it felt like it was time to come home.” Steven now lives in Saginaw’s
Cathedral District, just off Jefferson Avenue.
His education has been an eclectic mixture of formal and
informal training facilitated through his own and his family’s travels, his reading and research.
Steven has volunteered with Pit & Balcony Community Theater, Lawnchair Film Festival, Jazz on
Jefferson and the Saginaw Bay Symphony Orchestra. His works have sold to private collectors in the area
and been exhibited locally at Dawn of a New day Coffeehouse & Café, The Magic Bean Café and The
Court Street Gallery.
In addition to the A Catalogue of Lesser Saints series, Steven is also working on a large mixed-media
mosaic to be installed this fall in the entry of the offices of the Saginaw Community Foundation, and he has
locally-inspired poems accepted for publication this fall in the quarterly journal Both Sides Now.
Art @ the Andersen is a great opportunity for art lovers to connect with the creativity of the Great Lakes
Bay Region. The project was established by the Saginaw Arts & Enrichment Commission to give area
artists the opportunity to showcase their work and introduce the community to the abundant creativity in
the Great Lakes Bay Region. Individual pieces on display are available for purchase. Art @ the Andersen
is made possible with a grant from the Maxwell K. Pribil Memorial Fund, administered by Citizens Bank
Wealth Management, and supported by the MICHIGAN COUNCIL FOR ARTS AND CULTURAL
AFFAIRS.
© Marsha Braun, 2011