Beyond the Surface: Show 'Til December 8

Oak Savannah.

Let me tell you about the river land that became a city…

As I stand by the Mississippi River near downtown Minneapolis, I look at what is and wonder how it used to be. As an artist who makes art about the places I love, I ask, “What more can be known about this place?”
Reading history and geology and examining old maps and photographs, wakes up my imagination. Then painterly layers of mixed media and fiber techniques express the visual richness of the natural world, encouraging viewers to feel what I see and see what I imagine.

In Minneapolis, we live with the consequences of choices made in the 19th century. The decisions made then changed the terrain sculpted the land, and changed how life was lived here. For example, my home in south Minneapolis is built from trees that were once the forest to the north. Today? My neighbors are replanting the original prairies in garden plots 5-foot square!

Becoming aware of the attitudes that got us here is going to help us with the changes that are coming. My new work for the Beyond the Surface exhibit reflects shadows of what we have lost and asks what can be retained. What is our responsibility to the present—and to the past?

OCTOBER 13 – DECEMBER 8 – Beyond the Surface at Larson Art Gallery, University of Minnesota, St. Paul Student Center, 2017 Buford Ave., St. Paul.