Photo courtesy of Traveling Museum
Photo courtesy of Traveling Museum
Chatter: an exhibit of Minnesota artists aims to find connection through individuality much like the kerf chatter of rough-sawn lumber. Saw-blade marks are signifiers of the tools and conditions present at particular lumberyards, just as each of these artists have hewn language and expression out of their life experiences.
This exhibit is presented by the Traveling Museum, a mobile space for art and ideas, designed and administered by Lisa Bergh and Andrew Nordin (AKA Rural Aesthetic Initiative) and based out of New London, MN. www.thetravelingmuseum.com
Lisa Bergh’s large scale architectonic structures on and of paper examine an intersection of gesture, pattern, and figurative allegory. The artwork “Posture” (flash on paper, 2015) presents a vague representation of a form that yields to abstraction.
Patricia Canelake – Figurative Painter Patricia presents bold and painterly figurative works in which humans and animals alike are rendered with affection towards their prerogative to be. “Mutual Attraction”, (oil on canvas, 2019) in graphic red and white, foregrounds the space between that begins a story.
Performer, sound artist and musician Bethany Lacktorin examines memory and place by inserting herself and others into charged personal landscapes and surroundings; understanding her relationship to them by telling. “My Ocean”, (performance documentation video projection, 2016) is an outdoor, site-specific sound and performance installation that took place at Ordway Prairie Nature Preserve in Pope County, MN. Audiences were led on an hour-long walk through a carefully composed environment of sound, music and storytelling.
Painter Andrew Nordin has been examining the architectural prompts he notices on the highways of Rural Minnesota, distilling remnants of color and form found in abandoned farmhouses, corn cribs, and other unassuming buildings. “Kandiyohi County Baroque (God’s Eye) “ (Oil on Linen, 2017) manically and meditatively traces filigree with chromatic intensity.
Living near Two Inlets State Forest, Aaron Spangler’s sense of the world is shaped by his relationship to the woods. Spangler is best known as a sculptor, where he reimagines the traditional medium of woodcarving with a contemporary eye. Aaron is presenting a new sculpture on the patio of the Traveling Museum, carved out of a solid five and a half foot birch wood log.
Karl Unnasch, a two time Americans for the Arts Public Art network “Year in Review” award winner, comes from Southeastern Minnesota and his rugged farm upbringing influences his work through has craftsmanship and labor. Unnasch is presenting a stained glass work that links contemporary narratives with childhood nostalgia.
Star Wallowing Bull, A 2010 Bush Foundation Artist Fellowship recipient, Star Wallowing Bull explores the intersections of American Indian, Minnesotan, and U.S. Pop Culture. His painting “Red Owl” (acrylic on canvas, 2016) plays interference between being a recognizable corporate logo, from the grocery store chain of the same name, and an avatar for larger conceptual aims.