Sara Pace w/ Patrick Brickel

Art in the cafe...

Laurel Statz


"The Spectator"


December 2025



Laurel Statz is a painter and Madison area native. Her work, while figurative, is influenced by abstraction and minimalism. The paintings often have a quick and instinctual nature, capturing just what’s needed. While she often times herself to eliminate extra details and over-precision, she has ventured into more detailed works as well. Laurel does not attach narrative to her pieces. Rather, she thinks of them like a journaling process for her scatter-brained psyche. The figures in the pieces are meant to be processing tools for the artist and the viewer. She hopes that seeing these figures helps the...
[ more ]
Friday, January 28, 2005

Sara Pace wields a big acoustic guitar and writes big songs to go with. Folkish pop tunes with a thick syrup of country twang poured over the top.

Patrick Brickel has achieved a lyrical, roots/Americana hybrid that merges the pop classicism of a Paul Simon with the stark, penetrating internal explorations of an Elliott Smith or a Richard Buckner. He's been labeled "a masterful songwriter" by the Grand Island Independent, "a powerful roots musician" by Riverwest Currents, and a reviewer from Modern Vertebrate once wrote "every time I listen to his lyrics, I think to myself, 'Man, I wish I could write like that!' Then I hide in my closet and cry."

Music