Jim Schwall

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...
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Saturday, July 22, 2006

Jim Schwall was playing jazz on the accordion and drums before he completed elementary school, and found the guitar while in high school, playing mostly folk, bluegrass and traditional country blues. In collage he met Corky Siegel, added an electric pickup to his acoustic guitar, and the Siegel-Schwall Band was born. Between 1964 and 1974, they recorded a dozen albums and traveled the continent playing Iive shows. Although Jim has done other things along the way, he hasn't stopped playing. ln 1968 the band reunited and they currently play a couple dozen times a year, issuing a live CD in 1989 and their first studio recording in 3O year in 2005. In addition, Jim tours solo playing original and contemporary songs, mostly in the style of country blues.

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