In late October, John and Connie Ernatt re-opened their shared gallery space, showcasing their work, including a new project – their first collaborative project in their 25 years of marriage.
It’s a series of 14 pillars, made with a combination of brass work by Connie, and painting, done by John.
Despite working with different mediums, the couple found a way to bring their skills together.
“We started with a premise of having these really tall skinny (pillars)… we started with all the same format, but each of them is very different from each other,” Connie said.
John said that the death of the family member who first introduced him to art felt like it was a sign to collaborate with Connie. For him, the project is a response to that loss.
“My uncle Michael … was the person that was my original introduction to the artwork and all the joys,” John said. “I didn’t really feel like working alone, and I thought it’d be more fun working with Connie.”
The pillar set has a motif of monkeys and chimpanzees, but each is different and unique. They offer a blend of abstract art and humor.
The monkey motif comes from Connie’s time volunteering and doing commissioned work for the Sedgwick County Zoo.
“I was asked to do the big portrait of their big chimpanzee Marbles, and so I spent a lot of time with him,” she said. “I was really blown away by how human he was … like a primitive human.
“Animals are so timeless … they could represent all of humanity as primitive humans … no race, no gender, just a chimp.”
Connie’s part of the project, brass work, is a medium she’s been working with for years. Connie said that she originally began in ceramics, but switched to brass for a simple reason.
“I didn’t like how the ceramic would break … I would spend a lot of time doing all these little details and then it would break,” she said. “I started experimenting with bronze, and I really liked it, how strong it was, and I like the finishes I could get.”
Other pieces Connie has designed are the Riverside troll by Exploration Place, the WuShock statue outside WSU’s campus YMCA and the Sedgwick County Law Enforcement Memorial.
Connie’s individual pieces all tell a story, and they all have their own unique start.
“They all start with a found object, and so the inspiration comes from the found object … it’s an assemblage of stuff that I collect,” she said.
One of her pieces started with her finding and collecting nut carvings, so she started with the idea of a nut salesman, but then kept finding baskets and he became a basket salesman.
“He’s like a little nomadic basket salesman,” she said. “Every piece kind of has a little narrative or story that kind of goes to it.”
John, in contrast to Connie’s brass sculptures, works with paints and canvases, and he said that his process doesn’t always start with a plan or story.
“I might have a real small idea about where I want to go, and that might be like a color or sort of a more obscure idea,” he said. “I’ll just start drawing, sit back and see where (it goes) … It’s kind of just, I want to say a call and response sort of thing, which is a little corny but that’s kind of the way I work.”
John is a cofounder of Fisch Haus on Commerce Street, a multi-disciplinary art facility that he opened in 1990, along with Patrick Duegaw, Eric Schmidt and Kent Williams. He also designed the large brass sculpture, “The Attendant, 1923” in Botanica.
The Ernatts originally opened their gallery, The Diver, at 424 S. Commerce, in 2006 but closed it for renovations during the COVID pandemic.
During the renovations, they modeled it after a living room space and Connie said they crafted built-in furniture so that people who come to visit can sit while looking at their art pieces. The smaller area keeps their art on display, and the larger area is for shows.
The couple’s column collection, titled “The Collaboratives”, will be on display at The Diver through the new year.
