Feeling Color: A Discourse on how Color Stimulates Human Emotion

Exhibition Dates: April 7th through June 13th

On view at The River Arts Center (105 9th St, Prairie du Sac, WI 53578).

Reception: Thursday, April 17th, 5:30pm to 7:30pm. Artist talk begins at 6:00pm.

Please read on for more information about the artist and exhibition.

Artist Bio:

Avery Schaffer is an acrylic painter whose work explores the emotional and perceptual effects of color. She is currently a senior at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she is pursuing a major in Consumer Behavior and Marketplace Studies with a certificate in 2D Studio Art. Her studies have helped her refine her technical painting skills while deepening her understanding of how art connects with audiences and consumers.

Her work spans various subject matters yet remains unified through a strong focus on color. Every color choice is deliberate, meant to evoke a feeling, set a mood, or suggest a way to engage with the piece. Avery also considers how color shifts under different lighting conditions, altering the way we experience an image and adding new dimensions to a painting over time. She believes color has the power to connect people, being a universal language that can evoke emotion, shift perception, and create a sense of shared experience. Through her work, she invites viewers to slow down, to notice the subtleties of color, and to consider how it shapes the way we move through our interpretation of not only art, but our communities, our parks, and our world.

As an intern at River Arts, Inc., she has had the opportunity to curate and install her own exhibition, Feeling Color: A Discourse on How Color Stimulates Human Emotion. This show reflects her ongoing fascination with how color influences perception and emotional response.

After graduating in May 2025, she plans to move to Milwaukee, where she aims to merge her artistic creativity with her background in consumer behavior to engage in the gallery, museum, and exhibition industry. Her ultimate goal is to make art more accessible and foster deeper connections by blending her creativity with marketplace analysis.

Exhibition Statement:

Color is one of the most powerful tools in visual art- it shapes perception, evokes emotion, and creates meaning in ways that words cannot always capture. Feeling Color is an exploration of how color influences the way we experience art and the world around us, inviting viewers to engage in a deeper dialogue about color’s impact.

This exhibition encourages conversation about the personal and collective ways we interpret color. Each piece in the exhibition is a study in color relationships, designed to spark emotional and psychological responses. While some colors may feel universally tied to certain moods or meanings, interpretations can also be deeply personal, shaped by memory, culture, and individual perception.

As part of this exploration, an interactive component invites visitors to share their own experiences. A response wall will be available; viewers are encouraged to take a piece of paper, write down the title of one artwork they resonate with, and briefly reflect on how its colors influenced their perception.

Some questions viewers might consider asking themselves are: Did a certain hue evoke a specific emotion for me? Did the interaction between colors shift my understanding of the piece? Was there a dominant color or shade I was drawn to? Why?

Once viewers have written a response, they are encouraged to take a moment to read what others have shared.

At this point, viewers may consider asking themselves the following questions: Do I see patterns emerging? Are there any differences in perception that I notice? Do I see a new interpretation that I hadn’t considered before?

By engaging with the exhibition in this way, Feeling Color becomes more than a collection of paintings- it transforms into an evolving conversation about the way we see and feel color, and leaves us all with a newfound perspective to engage with and interpret color in our everyday lives.