Groveland Gallery is pleased to present a special, three-person exhibition: Costa Rica. In March of 2025, three Groveland artists – Dan Bruggeman, Cindy Koopman, and Kristie Bretzke – travelled to Montezuma, Costa Rica to take part in an artist’s retreat. The artists spent one week in the expansive natural landscape, with guided explorations to the surrounding beaches and jungle. Almost one year later, the meditative days of sketching and painting in Costa Rica have culminated in this exhibition of work.

Expect the unexpected in this group show:

Kristie Bretzke’s previous Groveland exhibitions have featured realistic interiors, depicting figures under party lights, charged with nightclub energy in an off-kilter world. However, Bretzke’s experience as a plein air painter might emerge in Costa Rica.

Dan Bruggeman is known at Groveland for finely articulated landscapes and extinct bird species, rich in concept and layered with meaning. What might he do with a landscape of tropical palms instead of boreal pines?

Cindy Koopman’s eye has much been focused on the details of plants and the temporary material presence of the natural world. Koopman brings the viewer close to her subject with a whispered suggestion to look carefully, study slowly, and take nothing for granted.