The following article by Kayleen Larson appeared in the May/June 2009 edition of Lake Country Journal.

Keeping His Eyes on the Horizon

Stephen Henning Admits He’s a Dangerous Man.

“Sometimes while I’m driving I’ll see a landscape that I just have to photograph so I’ll hold up my digital camera and try to take a picture as I drive by. It’s probably not the safest thing to do.”

It’s easy to see why the beautiful rolling hills, forests, and farmlands that surround Henning’s picturesque country home near Alexandria so readily capture his imagination.

“I’m fascinated by the way landscapes affect people,” says Henning. “I try to capture that feeling of contentment and mystery that landscapes evoke. I want to paint scenes that people can enter with ease, that both soothe and inspire.”

And soothe and inspire they do. So much so that Henning was commissioned to paint several landscapes for the cancer treatment wing of the Douglas County Hospital in Alexandria.

“I was contacted by the architect for the project, Reed Becker, from Widseth, Smith, Nolting & Associates,” says Henning. “He felt my style was ideally suited to the needs of the oncology department, based on extensive research his firm had done. Patients in such a facility need calm, peaceful images — pastoral landscapes — which is what I do.”

Although he studied fine art at the Minneapolis Institute of Art and later at the University of Minnesota, Henning didn’t take up painting with any seriousness until 1995, after a successful twenty-year career as an award-winning graphic designer, art director, and marketing consultant in Minneapolis.

His first public exhibition in January 1996 at the Banfill-Locke Center for the Arts in Minneapolis was so successful that the center made him an honorary board member. Today his original painting, oil pastels, and prints hang in homes, businesses, galleries, and museums around the world. He has been juried into some of the most prestigious art shows in the country, including the ninth-annual American Impressionist Society Show, recently held at the CODA Gallery in Palm Desert, California, and has been awarded signature membership in the Oil Pastel Society.

“He’s one of the most talented painters we’ve come across,” says Joe Kraemer who, along with his wife Kristie, owns Lakes Area Gallery and Frame Shop in Crosslake. The Kraemers discovered Henning in 2004 when they saw one of his works, “Sylvan Glen,” featured in an art magazine. Kraemer had no idea that Henning was painting only a few miles away in Evansville.

“Stephen’s painting is not necessarily realism, it communicates something emotional,” says Kraemer. “There are many talented artists out there, but he’s a cut above. Our clients can sometimes grow tired of the artwork they purchase, but they never grow tired of Stephen’s work.”

Not surprisingly, “Sylvan Glen” — the painting that first captured the imagination of the Kraemers — is also the piece that perhaps best expresses Henning’s desire to bring people close to nature. At five-feet by eight-feet, the size, along with the brilliant colors and filtered light, recreates the uncanny feeling of standing under an autumn canopy of color. The beauty and the peace it evokes are a tantalizing invitation to the viewer to step onto the path before them and into the painting.

Linda Gaugert, owner of Three Havens Artworks north of Alexandria, has sold Henning’s artwork since opening her gallery in 2004. “We’re certainly fortunate to have Stephen Henning right here in our area,” says Gaugert. “People may not realize that he [Henning] sells paintings from galleries in many important markets throughout the United States, and his prints internationally.”

She attributes Henning’s appeal to his ability to capture that ethereal quality in nature that happens when the light and the setting come together in a magical way. “His color palette, his use of contrasting and analogous colors, and his brushwork all point to his technical ability. However, the obvious reverence for his surroundings and the peace that is infused into his paintings are what captures the viewer.”

To Henning, perfecting his technique is as important as the beauty of the landscapes he labors to recreate. “Painting a landscape requires a process of applying paint in stages from preliminary sketch to the final magic touch of color to canvas. Likewise, to grow and mature as an artist requires constant effort,” he says.

He enjoys sharing what he’s learned with other artists, frequently conducting workshops for art clubs throughout the Midwest. More than anything else, what Stephen Henning enjoys is keeping a keen eye on the light and the landscapes around him, looking for the perfect place and the perfect moment from which to start.