SHARED SPACES, SHARED LIVES: ARIANA VAETH’S “EXPANSION PACK” COMES TO CAESTECKER GALLERY

Milwaukee painter opens her exhibition with an artist talk and reception on Friday, October 30

Milwaukee painter Ariana Vaeth brings her new exhibition, Expansion Pack, to Ripon College’s Caestecker Gallery this fall. The show opens Friday, October 30, and Vaeth will give an artist talk that evening at 6 p.m. A reception follows, giving visitors the chance to experience the work with the artist in Demmer Recital Hall. Expansion Pack remains on view through Tuesday, November 24.

“Vaeth uses color and quotidian scenarios to celebrate and honor her milieu of friends, family and domestic life. Her paintings echo works by Pierre Bonnard and other early modernist painters, who balanced experimentation of color and form with descriptions of the everyday,” said Rafael Francisco Salas.

DETAILS
Exhibition: Ariana Vaeth: Expansion Pack
Dates: October 30 – November 24, 2026
Artist talk: Friday, October 30, 2026, at 6 p.m., reception to follow
Location: Caestecker Gallery, Ripon College
Gallery hours: Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, 2–5 p.m.; Saturdays and Sundays, 2–6 p.m.

ABOUT THE EXHIBITION
Vaeth paints the people who make life meaningful. Her large oil paintings fill crowded, comfortable interiors with friends, partners and family who share clothes, meals and time. She sees each scene as a small ecosystem with enough comfort for its residents to lean on one another and keep going. As the creator of these scenes, she thinks of herself as their host, and she takes that role seriously.

In her self-portraits, the focus shifts. A cropped frame hints at someone just out of view, or a mirror leaves the artist alone with herself.

Working in oil, Vaeth lets mistakes remain in the painting, so life’s imperfections become part of the story. “I’ve learned from the workability of the medium to incorporate mistakes into the artwork, adding to the piece’s atmosphere,” Vaeth said. “Working this way forces me to make peace with the passage of time and to add life’s imperfections into our shared narrative.”

ABOUT THE ARTIST
Ariana Vaeth grew up in Baltimore and now lives in Milwaukee. She earned her BFA from the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design. She has had solo museum exhibitions at the Miller Art Museum in Door County and at the Lynden Sculpture Garden in Milwaukee.

Vaeth was a 2017 Mary L. Nohl Fellow in the Emerging Artist category and received a 2020 Wisconsin Visual Art Achievement Award. Her work has also been shown internationally through the Art in Embassies program, selected by former Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett.