REVISIONARIES – TIM ABEL, MELISSA WAGNER-LAWLER & ANGELA ZAMMARELLI – MAY 15 – AUGUST 10, 2015

Reception:ĚýMay 15, 6 – 7:30 p.m.

The concept for Revisionaries first existed as a digital experiment between three artists in the form of Precarious Worlds, a show for the online gallery platform Gallery Gray, in 2011. In this remix, there is a chance to re-contextualize ideas that were first uncovered in the potential space created in the digital show and a chance to inject new ideas through experimentation and collaboration that can only take place in the physical space offered in the gallery.

Exhibition Statement:

As artists, our artworks share an interest in saturation: a tendency towards decoration through pattern, layers of color, information and fragmentation. Angela Zammarelli uses fabric, cardboard, and herself to make sculptural objects and installations. Melissa Wagner-Lawler uses digitally layered text and pattern to create a visceral, delicate surface on the page that takes the form of artists books and works on paper. While, Tim Abel uses printmaking, papermaking, and sewing to make sculptural paperworks that vary in size from the handheld to large-scale installations.

Artist Bios:

Tim Abel is a paper-based artist and community art educator living in Wisconsin.

Melissa Wagner-Lawler is a printmaker and bookmaker who resides and teaches in Milwaukee, WI.

Angela Zammarelli is an artist living in Massachusetts who creates environments with found materials coming from free piles, trash/recycling, and hand me downs.

All three received their MFAs from Minneapolis College of Art and Design.

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Re[f]use: Transforming the Landscape

May 15 – August 10, 2015

Reception: May 15, 6 – 7:30 p.m.

Photographic work by Gina Dabrowski looks at contemporary landfills as well as re-purposed sites to explore the relationships between people and their belongings. The large-scale prints examine the business of waste disposal through the lens of a 4×5 camera.

Exhibition Statement

In my landfills project, I use photography to capture the residue of people’s presence, which is preserved in man-made landscapes composed of garbage. I photographed re-purposed landfills using a large format camera and film. The resulting color photographs look at old dump sites located on the boundaries of our daily life, as well as the people who dispose of their personal belongings.

Artist Bio

Gina Dabrowski is a visual artist who lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota and teaches at North Hennepin Community College. She received her MFA in Photography and Video from California Institute of the Arts (CalArts), as well as a Master of Art in Visual and Cultural Studies from the University of Rochester in Rochester, New York. Gina has received awards of support from the McKnight Foundation Artist Fellowship for Photographers, the Jerome Foundation, and the Minnesota State Arts Board. For the McKnight Fellowship, Gina gave a presentation on her Landfills project at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis.

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Deciphering Nebulas

January 12 – March 26, 2015

Jeanine Hill presents various works including drawings, ceramics, and an installation. These works are inspired by the transformations of line into form, land into sky, and stars and planets into universes. This collection depicts a state of constant becoming.

Artist Statement

The works that I am currently making are three-dimensional maps of the literal and metaphoric terrains that I have traveled.Ěý Within my work, form stands with purpose and content lies within the context of my life experiences.Ěý It is through the examination of personal history and the construction and reconstruction of this history’s landscape that I am able toĚýdecipherĚýmy own mysteries through the morphology of clay.

Artist Bio

Jeanine Hill was born in Alcalde, New Mexico on a Pueblo reservation where she and her family were surrounded by vast orchards and high canyon walls. Her first exposure to the arts was early on when her father began taking photographs of the traditional Pueblo ceremonies by day and working with wood by night. She was taught the value of storytelling by her mother, who used words to shape the world. Jeanine’sĚýown making and storytelling practices were forged out of hours of being lost in the woods of Vermont, and sharing stories with her siblings.

Q&A with Jeanine Hill

What is the main focus of inspirationĚýfor the pieces included in this exhibition?

I have spent the last two years working on the pieces for this show. In this time I have traveled quite a bit, and the extensive traveling has been an inspiration. But I would have to say that the greatest influence or inspiration for the work is the experience of landscape, the role it plays in our lives, and the way in which place enables us to not only understand who and where we are but also to navigate our world in a more grounded way.

How would you describe your creative process?

Ěý Ěý Ěý Ěý Ěý Ěý Ěý Ěý Ěý Ěý Ěý Ěý Ěý Ěý Ěý Ěý Ěý Ěý Ěý Ěý Ěý Ěý Ěý

I usually work in shifts. Because my studio practice involves a wide variety of materials, I rarely work with multiple materials at the same time. Working this way allows me to deeply focus on the material at hand and the processes required. A year of my artistic life will often involve six to eight months of working in clay, three months of drawing, and perhaps a month or two working with textiles. That being said, there could be a year that doesn’t look like this at all and I spend the whole year throwing pots or drawing. It all depends on where I am emotionally and physically at the time.

Where did your initial attraction to examining your path in life as a visual record stem from?

I come from a long line of storytellers and within this history there are diverse ethnic backgrounds that come into play. Storytelling and the making of artwork have played a tremendous role in my family’s history. I think that coming from such a diverse background as I do, as well as all of the moving and traveling I have done in my life, have required me to be constantly reflective. The consistent examination of who I am as a human being allows who I am to remain in a state of constant flux, which I suppose in some ways allows the change to not be so difficult.

WhatĚýmessage doĚýyou want to get across to viewers through your art?

I don’t know that there is a specific message I am hoping to get across. I simply hope that in the telling of my story, it enables the viewers to see their own story within the work as well, that perhaps my work is simply a window or door into their own lives.

What are some of your artistic influences?

I am drawn to well-crafted, process oriented work that shows the presence of the hand in the work. So within this realm I would say that one of my biggest influences is Lee Bontecou. As an artist she possesses a strong integrity to craft and content, and it shows in the work. I am also deeply influenced by the work of Georgia O’Keefe. I find it refreshing to look at works of art that speak of beauty. Lastly, I would have to say I am heavily inspired by Karen Karnes. Her later, more sculptural works possess a strong sense of the unknown, while still trying to name the mystery of existence through the use of the hands.

You describe your work as “relics of visually constructed memory.” What influence does this kind of recordkeeping have in your day-to-day life?

I believe strongly in the recording of life so I carry a pen and journal wherever I go. There is something deeply personal about writing down notes that document your life, not so much so that you can go back and read it but to simply become acquainted with pausing throughout your day to witness and reflect. By witnessing and reflecting on my life through the written work and other materials such as clay, I am able to put it outside of myself and move on.

Would you say you are striving to create a visual diary?

No, not a diary, a visual landscape yes. A few years back I read this amazing book called the “Anatomy of the Spirit.” In the book the author talks a lot about how our bodies become a biological landscape of both our physical and emotional lives and that everything we go through both physically and emotionally affects our physiology. In essence we become a walking landscape. When I think of the work I am making, I suppose I think of it in a similar way. It is a visual landscape of my work, and one piece could be based on one particular moment or nine years of my life.

What are some of the reactions you have received from people viewing your work?

I have heard from quite a few people that they see my work as being fairly poetic and quiet.Ěý

What is one thing you have learned about yourself as an artist in creating these works?

I have learned that it is helpful if I have time and space to slowly create the work, one piece after another. If I am able to sit with all of the work for a prolonged period, slowly, I am able to see how the pieces should fit together, who are the characters, and what the story is that needs to be told.

What kind of experiences do you drawĚýfrom for inspiration?

I draw from all of my experiences, both the good and the bad. All of it is meaty and offers substance that can be used as inspiration.

How long did it take you to develop your own style?

I am still creating it.

Most of your ceramic pieces are rounded, organic, and flowing shapes. Is there a specific meaning behind this?

I suppose when I think of the human body and the movement of landscapes, I think of soft, organic shapes.

Does your work on one project often lead to the inspiration of your next endeavor?

I do my best to not take too much down time in between projects, so the short answer is yes. But I would also like to believe that because it is my hand that is making the work, there will always be a consistent line of thought between the vast expanses.

What’s next?

Keep making, making, making. It is all in the work.

Questions by gallery intern Johanna Goggins.

DECIPHERING NEBULAS Images

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all that glitters

Exhibition Dates:ĚýJanuary 12 – March 12, 2015

Closing Reception:ĚýThursday, March 12, 6:00 – 7:30 p.m.

For Boulay’s installation of over 1,000 gold paperback book covers, he collected pulp and popular fiction paperbacks with gold-embossed elements and meticulously painted the remainder of each cover gold. The work raises questions about value, taste and permanence.

Artist Bio

Roger Boulay is originally from Massachusetts. He earned an MFA from the University of New Mexico in 2011. He moved to the region in 2013 and now lives and works in Winona, Minnesota with his partner and two dogs. He has exhibited his work nationally.

Artist Statement

My work is about transition, precariousness and beauty. My current work uses books to investigate notions of instability and erosion. In this work, stories are layered upon one another, visible in fragments that collide and connect. I am exploring literal and metaphorical entropy at the intersection of language and material culture. For the last eight months I have been working on a site-specific installation. This piece involves over 1,200 popular fiction paperback book covers. Each cover has been selected because it contains gold-embossed lettering. I paint around each gold element with gold paint so that the entire book cover is covered in gold. It is detailed and methodical work. I am curious to see how erasing or camouflaging gold with itself could make the viewer think about the cultural and monetary value we associate with both gold and popular fiction.

#RBallthatglitters

ALL THAT GLITTERS – q/a with artist

First I want to thank the Augsburg Art Department, Jenny Wheatley and her staff for accepting my exhibition application and being very gracious hosts. I also want to thank my family, Harvey, Shirley, Dekker, Charlotte and Brian for their support. A big thank you to Janet Hawkes, Rod Hawkes, Joan Lawrence and Joyce Lawrence, who helped me obtain a good chunk of the books for the piece. Kate Hawkes, my partner, has been wonderfully supportive and inhaled way too many gold paint fumes because of me and is a great accomplice in all things art and in life. – Roger Boulay

Where did the books come from?

The books came almost entirely from library book sales, where I could purchase fifty or sixty books for a few dollars. I also bought a few lots of books off of ebay to obtain specific genres for the piece that I couldn’t find at library book sales.

Have you read these books?

I have read a few of these books previous to making the piece. One hope I have is that viewers will identify certain books they’ve read in the piece and then have a connection to a few of the stories alluded to in the work.

What was the selection process for the books used?

The piece is made entirely of paperback works of fiction. I selected books that had some gold element on the cover, often embossed gold text. A book had to have a gold element on the cover and be fiction to be in the piece. Some books appear more than once.

How did you assemble them?

The covers are glued to each other. I used the backs of many of the covers to attach the piece together. First I made fourteen 3′ x 5′ rectangular panels and then attached those panels together and filled in around them to create the final composition.

What will you do with the text pages of the books?

I am not entirely sure yet, but I have some ideas for a sculpture or to reform the text pages into a recycled paper.

Can you explain the similarities and differences that “All That Glitters” and your previous exhibition titled “Pulp” share with one another?

Both bodies of work use paperback fiction as a starting point. Both projects are about erasure and disappearing. My process for some of the work in “Pulp” is a little different in that I’ve photographed some covers or pages to create larger panels that make shifts in scale or accentuate markings. “All that Glitters” is made exclusively out of actual book covers. Both projects reference building facades. Both works are about deterioration and change.

“All that Glitters” is different in that I’m concentrating on the possible meanings and associations of a particular color (gold) and how it relates to the mash-up of genres and time-periods and stories of the books in the piece.

Why did you organize the books into the shape you did?

On a basic level, I designed the piece for the Christensen Gallery. I didn’t make a piece that was thirty feet tall, because it obviously wouldn’t have worked for the space.

I want the shape of the piece to have different associations. For example, to me it references the periodic table, a fragment of a building facade or a big pile of gold bars.

What is your favorite genre to work with?

I enjoyed working with pulp fiction because the stories are so strange and the covers are really unique.

What kind of recurring themes did you find while working with the covers?

A lot of the titles use clichĂ© in a specific way. There are tropes of particular genres such as the “damsel in distress” on the front of romance novels. By painting around the blonde or “golden hair” on these covers, it becomes more ambiguous as to who is male and female. That particular trope gets put into question.

What are some of your artistic influences?

I was thinking about the work of artists like Annette Messager, El Anatsui, Robert Heinecken, Adrienne Salinger, Patrick Manning and Mark Bradford while I worked on this project, all for different reasons. I also watched and rewatched a lot of Law and Order (the original series) while I worked on the piece.

What would you like the audience to take away from your show?

I hope people have an enjoyable visual experience and make connections to certain titles and text or some of the bits and pieces I didn’t paint gold that are floating through the piece. One of the strengths of this particular gallery is the ease with which the viewer can see things from a distance and also up close. I hope this enriches the experience of the work. I also hope the piece makes people think about value and how we assign value.

What would you like future generations to take away from this artwork if it is rediscovered a century from now?

That is a difficult question. I guess I wonder if print media will have mostly disappeared by then so this piece will speak to a particular moment of transition in our culture. I also hope the piece will describe how we constructed narrative and thought about color in some ways. Hopefully we are still around in a century…

Questions by gallery intern Megan Bartylla.

ALL THAT GLITTERS –Ěýimages

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November 3 – December 18, 2014

Reception:ĚýFriday, November 7 5:30 – 7:30 p.m.

Hunder creates images that are records of actual objects – branches and grasses inked and pressed into paper with an intaglio press or recorded as photograms on sensitized paper. Although mimicking scientific recording in some ways, the resulting prints are gestural and expressive, forming a subjective place within a skeleton of reality.

Artist Bio

Stephanie Hunder teaches printmaking and digital media at Concordia University in St. Paul, MN, where she is Gallery Director and Professor of Art. Originally from Minnesota, she received her BFA (1993) and MA (1997) from the University of Wisconsin–Madison and her MFA (2000) from Arizona State University. Hunder’s prints depict natural objects, such as plants and insects, sometimes in conjunction with manmade structures. Her work investigates the relationships between form, function, and meaning, presenting imagery that could be seen as iconic, symbolic, or scientific. She uses a variety of digital and photographic printmaking media, altering objective-style photographs with personal marks and subjective colors.

Artist Statement

Natural forms speak to us in metaphors – a moth emerging from its cocoon, seeds blown on the wind… Nature holds a place in our most basic understanding of the world and forms the foundation for the language of our thoughts. The subjective, inner world of the mind mimics the objective, outside world – nature, bodies, spaces. I use printmaking and photography to make a record of actual objects, yet I find the resulting prints expressive, gestural and mysterious. Collaged together, they question pictorial space and natural symbolisms –linear branches physically carve and emboss the flat paper, then fall into deep illusionistic shadows, forming a subjective place within a skeleton of reality.

Hours:ĚýM – F, 8 a.m. – 8 p.m.; Sat. & Sun. 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.

ENTRANCE TO WOOD –Ěýimages

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Flow Chart: drift

November 4 – December 18, 2014

Artist Talk: November 3, 8:30 – 9:30 a.m. Oren Gateway Center, Room 113

The pop-infused, mixed media installations of Joe Page’s “Flow Chart” series propose landscapes that are both physically interactiveĚýenvironmentsĚýand distant cartographical maps. Fluctuating pathways, points, and vibrant color fields sprawl in all directions, propelling the viewer along an immersive journey of varied rhythm, scale, and space within the gallery.

Artist Bio

Joe Page received his BA in Studio Art from Knox College in Galesburg, IL and his MFA in Ceramic Art from the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University. He currently lives and works in Edwardsville, IL where he is head of ceramics at Southern Illinois University.

Artist Statement

The escapist allure of immersive environments drives my work, orienting the viewer in a place of comfort and curiosity. The vibrant colors, reductive imagery, and illustrated movements within the “Flow Chart” series of installations are deceptively simple, derivative of early video games, pinball machines, mass transit maps, and schematic diagrams. Within this framework, one soon begins to uncover the world’s underpinnings: a rules-based system of sculptural parameters, compositional logic, and spatial relationships.

Hours:ĚýM – F, 8 a.m. – 8 p.m.; Sat. & Sun. 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.

Image: Flow Chart: Vortex, porcelain, vinyl, polystyrene, mdf, wire, 2014

FLOW CHART: DRIFT – Q/A with artist

How did you get interested in working with the materials you use?

I attended Knox College in Galesburg, IL, which is very similar to Augsburg. IĚýtook a ceramics class to fulfill a fine arts requirement and was hooked on the vast potential of clay. It can be made to record every gesture of the hand or none at all. Clay acts as a conceptual springboard that I then translate into other materials: wood, polystyrene foam, and vinyl in the case of the “Flow Chart” series.

There are almost no sharp edges in your work and a good deal of repetition. What is the purpose of this?

The bubble represents an endless source of new variations and themes emanating from the same form. I would say there’s an obsessiveness in wanting to explore every possibility within a fairly limited formal framework. There’s a tension in thatĚýuniformity of visual language that looks digitally or mass-produced, but you’ll see that no form is repeated exactly the same way twice.Ěý The work is modular, kit-based, like a set of Legos in that it can be assembled an infinite number of ways from a finite number of parts.

In one instance you describe your work as bothĚýcomforting and cloying, sincere and cynical. Describe how these opposites are broadcasted inĚýyourĚýwork.

 

I’d compare the viewing experience of my work to a tropical cruise or a trip to the candy store: colorful, energizing, and artificial.Ěý Tropical cruises and candy are wonderful treats, but eventually you need to return to something more substantial. The work offers a statement on both the benefits and limitations of escaping from reality.

Ěý

What would you like your viewer to walk away with when leaving your exhibit?

If the work offers a bit of respite and visual nourishment during their day, I think I’ve been successful.

What have the reactions to your installation work been so far?

Visitors usually say that the work brightens their day and gives them a boost of energy.Ěý It really is like an endorphin rush.

Have you ever thought of designing a pinball machine or video game based on your installations?

I reference a great deal of pinball machines and video games when I speak about my work. It would be great to collaborate with someone to make that influence flow in the other direction.

Do you consider your work to be a landscape?

The work strives to be an immersive environment to navigate and take refuge in, essentially the real world run through an extreme aesthetic filter.ĚýThis environment comprised solely of circles and straight lines is utopian and authoritarian in nature; one absent of any visual language that cannot follow these rules. Lately I’ve added interactive elements to the environments, engaging viewers in a physical dialogue with the work rather than just a visual one.

What things from today’s digital culture inspire you?

I’m heartened by the renaissance of pixel-graphics, particularly in the indie game scene. The mosaic-like visual language of the pixel began to fade as the hardware pushed digital imagery toward polygonal graphics, so it’s great to see that pixel art still has a lot of potential to be mined. I’m also fascinated by the ways that vast amounts of data are streamlined into visually comprehensible and often quite beautiful imagery. Data visualization is one of the best examples of synergy between the visual arts and the sciences that I can think of in today’s world.

Questions by Gallery Intern Megan Bartylla

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FLOW CHART: DRIFT –Ěýimages

 

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FINE: REFLECTIONS ON RESILIENCE
A COLLABORATION BETWEEN Â鶹ԭ´´ COLLEGE & PEASE ACADEMY

FINE: Reflections on Resilience

Reception:ĚýFriday, September 5, 6 – 7:30 p.m.ĚýMusic by the Kennedy’s: Meg Miura and Dave Chapman

Over spring semester, 2014, Augsburg College Graphic Design I and Typography students collaborated with students at PEASE Academy, the oldest sober high school in the U.S., to explore what it means to be resilient. Themes such as addiction, recovery and common challenges that all humans face were expressed through creative writing, collage and the design of a zine.

This project was made possible with support from University of Minnesota’s Buckman Fellowship for Leadership in Philanthropy. Fellows Lois Libby Juster and Julie Longo conceived and facilitated this project.

Lois Libby JusterĚýhas a Soul Centered Energy Mind/Body Integrated Health and Healing
practice. She uses art as a tool for both her clients and herself to access moments of transformation that mark the path of healing. As a Buckman Fellow for Leadership in Philanthropy at the University of Minnesota, she used poetry and collage as tools for healing in her project. Her focus has always been to make a difference in people’s lives in a way that will make the world a better place for everyone. Her passion for making a difference in the world has taken her to many countries to be an advocate for human rights, education and women’s issues. At 80, Lois Libby continues to be an active learner, teacher and healer and is collaborating in the writing of a book on WellALLogy.

Ěýis a practicing graphic designer and Graphic Design Adjunct Faculty at Augsburg College, University of Minnesota College of Design, and Minneapolis College of Art and Design. Her primary professional and educational interest is in collaborative community-based design. Longo is also an active member of AIGA and serves on its Design for Good Committee.

FINE: REFLECTIONS ON RESILIENCE – Images

FINE: Reflections on ResilienceĚýis a project conceived and facilitated by University of Minnesota Buckman Fellows, Lois Libby Juster and Julie Longo. The Buckman Fellowship for Leadership and Philanthropy is an initiative for the study and practice of philanthropy, leadership, and personal and community improvement. With the support of the Fellowship, Juster and Longo spent spring semester, 2014, working with recovering teens from PEASE Academy in Minneapolis and students in Longo’s Augsburg College Art 225 Graphic Design I and Art 320 Typography classes to explore what it means to be resilient. Themes such as addiction, recovery and common challenges that all humans face were expressed through creative writing, collage and the design of a zine. One of the goals of the project was to challenge stereotypes by giving young people affected by addiction a voice through self-expression and self-representation in an environment of mentorship, creativity and introspection.

The Augsburg students developed a deeper understanding of how the design process can be more effective through community collaboration and had the added benefit of working on Augsburg Experience Credit while participating in the project. All of the project participants were able to discover their own creative potential while building better social ties, networks and support.

Lois Libby Juster website: www.loislibby@loislibbyjuster.com

Julie Longo website: www.julielongo.com

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THE FAIR UNKNOWN

Reception: Saturday, October 4, 1 – 5 p.m.

September 2 – October 23, 2014

Using thick layers of resin and fragmented fashion magazines, Josie Lewis creates intricate dimensional collages that reference cellular biology, starscapes, kaleidoscopes, and explosions.

Artist Bio

Josie Lewis was raised in northern Minnesota on the shores of Lake Superior in an octagon shaped house. Her work has been widely exhibited in the Twin Cities area and nationally. She has an MFA from the University of MN and currently lives in North Minneapolis with her husband and daughter.

Artist Statement

I make semi-sculptural slabs of epoxy resin and found paper collage. I use cut fashion magazine images that are intricately layered between multiple pours of resin. My attraction to these magazines consists of a complex push-pull of distaste mixed with formal relish. Like an archivist, I dig, sift and edit. The magazine is milled into a kind of analog pixilation wrought by my scissors and utility blade. I seek to draw attention to the source material while simultaneously damaging it almost to the point of elimination. The glossy magazine becomes a glossy and heavy slab; shredded, exploded, inside out and backwards. I am administering a its rebirth to a more perfect object: solid, definite, personal, precise and terribly permanent. The resin slabs are seductively handmade and aggressively beautiful.

Hours:ĚýM – F, 8 a.m. – 8 p.m.; Sat. & Sun. 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.

THE FAIR UNKNOWN – Studio Tour

“How did you make that?”

Josie Lewis hears this a lot. At first glance, her work is a large, glossy mosaic of colors and abstract shapes. Coming closer, it reveals itself to be a series of layers – clipped images that combine to create something that might be found under a microscope (intricate and lifelike) or perhaps a telescope (celestial and expanding). And suddenly we are lost in wonder.

This ponderous moment, suspended in thought like pieces of paper in resin, is the result of both a meticulous process and an intuitive hunt and response. On her studio’s table, stacks of magazines stand in the midst of small pieces of “found treasures” through which she digs, looking for the right color, image, or pattern—anything that inspires her.

She starts, typically, by looking in Vogue Magazine, not because of the content but the quality of the pages. The paper from these and National Geographic holds up the best throughout the creation of her work.ĚýThe fair unknownĚýoriginates in the former, 12 copies of the same issue from 2013. Within a wooden and aluminum mold, she pours black ink, a layer of resin, and waits 24 hours. Then a layer of magazine forms, a layer of resin, and wait… repeating this layer by layer until a patchwork form emerges over the course of 8 – 15 layers. Sometimes an idea is clear from the beginning, while other times the piece works itself out as she goes.

With a drawer full of scissors and another of Elmer’s glue sticks, Lewis thinks of this process as “reordering something that already exists,” cataloging Vogue through another perspective. Through the destructive act of cutting, the magazine is demolished and revived, transforming it into something redeeming and life-giving.

To those watching as she works, the process is clearly meditative. Small bits from an ocean of glossy pages carefully congregate, sit, and move around the composition, coming together to create a greater whole.

Lewis started out painting at the University of Minnesota. Gifted with a knack for technical skill but frustrated by a lack of voice in her work, she began cutting her work apart. Discovering an interest in the surface of the paint, she created collages in secret, experimenting with the resin she saw her sculpture friend using. The urge to create work that had been whispering to her now had a voice. She found the new medium, materials, and a symbiotic relationship in which the materials informed the work and vice versa.

Now, Lewis would be in the studio all the time if she could, but life intercedes. Usually found working on her current series in sporadic bursts throughout the day and after her little one goes to bed, she holds to the advice she gives artists of any stripe or level of expertise: The more you make work, the better you get and the easier it is to find what you like. Time is essential. Spend time making work.

Next, Lewis looks forward to casting objects in resin and also returning to paint, exploring its surface and the gradation of color. In the meantime, she loves the reactions people have to her work, especially kids. “It’s like a firework mixed with a flower mixed with a machine.” The material gives people an entry point to engage in the work. We are familiar with and thrown off by the material. The depth, the trick, the illusion engages people as they come closer. And from the pages of what we feel we know, we respond in common, “I’ve never seen anything like this.”

www.josielewis.com

THE FAIR UNKNOWN –Ěýimages

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CLOSE TO HOME: A Visual Journal

August 25 – October 23, 2014

Reception:ĚýFriday, Sept. 5, 5:30 – 7:30 p.m.

Artist Talk & Demonstration:ĚýTuesday, September 9, 12-2 p.m., Adeline Johnson Conference Center, adjacent to gallery, first floor of Oren Gateway Center

An almanac of observations in watercolor and ink paired with original text explores the extraordinary in the ordinary.

Artist Bio

Tara Sweeney was born in Minnesota and lives in Saint Paul. She has worked in the Twin Cities’ visual arts community for over thirty years. Her distinctive body of work explores figure, identity, and sense of place. She is associate professor and art department chair for Augsburg College, where she has been teaching since 1991. Prior to this she was executive art director for Minneapolis –St. Paul Magazine and an award-winning book illustrator and designer. She earned a B.S. in Studio Art and a B.S. in Textile Design from the University of Wisconsin (1978), and an M.F.A. in Visual Studies from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design (1997). Her work has been widely exhibited and is held in public and private collections.

Artist Statement

Combining art making and writing is integral to this intimate series in watercolor and ink. To be honest, I didn’t intend to continue for six years when I began “Close to Home” late in November of 2009, but it was so much fun that it acquired a life of its own. I don’t consciously try to find subject matter. I wait until something captures my attention. The more ordinary it is, the better. Each entry begins with drawing and writing from direct observation. Reflection also plays a crucial role. To tell my stories I stay inside the lines if it works and invent freely when something else works better. It requires that I pay close attention and stay open to possibility until the process of observation, memory, and invention feel complete. Creating this way is messy, surprising, and deeply satisfying.Ěý

Part of the Fall Art Tour!

Hours:ĚýM – F, 8 a.m. – 8 p.m.; Sat. & Sun. 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.

CLOSE TO HOME: A VISUAL JOURNAL – studio visit

Tara Sweeney has two studios: a formal space for large scale, solitary work; and just about anywhere else she can create smaller scale drawing, painting, and writing in her visual journal. This includes places like her garden, kitchen table, neighborhood, the city, the banks of the Mississippi, a farmer’s market, and music in the parks. At the moment, she is working in her front porch at an old farm table where two objects have her attention, alongside a pot of tea, and life outside the open windows.

Working on an almanac-style visual journal of around 70 entries for her upcoming exhibition, she is in completion mode. But drawing and writing for this series began in 2008 and has proceeded throughout the seasons for nearly six years. One long ago November morning, while making a journal entry in bed, Tara spilled ink on the page and the sheets. It was the start of writing about the “messy, but real stuff in life.” She stopped trying to find subject matter and started letting it find her by closely observing the everyday objects and rituals that caught her attention.

The finished work is a combination of ink and watercolor drawing and original text in a reflective voice. Part prose, part poetry, each entry spreads across two 8.5” x 11” sketchbook pages and includes the spiral binding. Her process starts intuitively and proceeds organically. When something begs to be sketched, she trusts her instincts and begins. Today she is completing text for a drawing of Russian nesting dolls begun the day her grandson was born. Frequently a drawing is completed first and the text is then drafted longhand in a project notebook. Holding up five notebooks from this past year, she says, “I overwrite and pull out what I need when I need it.” She moves on to the next drawing when inspiration strikes and eventually returns to revise and hand letter the text for each entry, sometimes months or years later. “Life happens so I have to be flexible and place mark. It allows me to be present to the moment of inspiration and also to bring work to completion by using the increments of time I have.” Enough was completed on that busy day that fifteen months later she revises the text and discovers a connection between theĚýmatryoshkaĚýdolls and a missing family story that defines the origin of her grandson’s name.

After 15 years of leading undergraduate travel programs inĚýplein airĚýsketching to France and Italy, Tara has honed her skills for drawing and painting on location. But until the “Close to Home” visual journal series she had never really kept a consistent sketchbook here in Minnesota. Six years later the results are ambitious and original. She jokes about her process, “I have a high tolerance for ambiguity.” But she is very serious about sequence when it comes to completion. On the table sits a calendar listing all the entries with notes about what each needs for completion. “At this point I work chronologically.” She explains that it helps pace the effort and focus required, “That way I don’t finish all my favorites first and leave the tough ones for the end.” In May 2014 she calculated that finishing three entries per week would prepare the series for her solo exhibition opening at the end of August. However, after an unexpected trip to Paris for her son’s marriage, and planning to host their Minnesota party in her backyard, it’s now more like five entries a week. “Oh, this one is actually done,” she exclaims, drawing a big X through the date. “The list keeps me honest.”

Releasing an intimate body of work like this is both exhilarating and terrifying.Ěý“Creating an intimate series like this is essentially agreeing to be naked,” she explains. Through experience, she has grown used to the challenges of making really personal work visible, but it is still terrifying. “I have great support in family, friends, and gallery directors.” Plus, she loves making this artwork. When asked what has kept the series going for this long she says without hesitation, “It’s fun. It’s the most fun I’ve ever had creating. Maybe it’s because I am letting my artist and writer work together for once.”

Connecting with others has also motivated her to complete the series. It was exhibited in progress in January 2013. She notes that the viewer response was a complete surprise to her. “I never expected people to stand in the gallery and read every word.” They did, and then shared stories with each other that the artwork triggered.

The objects and rituals that inspire Tara’s artwork are ordinary but the insights she reveals are anything but. We recognize ourselves in this work. It’s this bridge between the personal and the universal that makes the work so engrossing. Browsing through the intimate seasons of her visual journal entries, we share the humor, the pain and sorrow, the joy, the gratitude, and the hope that inspires this work. We are, as the title suggests, close to home.

CLOSE TO HOME: A VISUAL JOURNAL – images

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