Frye Art Museum: "Local Ties," an acquisition initiative, adds 6 contemporary artworks from Seattle artists to their collection. Underscoring the Frye's commitment to collecting work made by artists who live in or hold deep ties to Seattle, and adding works in mediums previously underrepresented in our collection like video and sculpture, this initiative brings works from Gretchen Frances Bennett, Dawn Cerny, Marita Dingus, Wynne Greenwood, and Hanako O'Leary into the Frye's collection for the first time. The works were purchased directly from the artists’ studios and from Seattle’s Traver Gallery; piloting support for this initiative is provided by Lucy and Stuart Williams. Read the full press release: https://lnkd.in/geShsv8k
“Ginkgo biloba” 2023 color pencils on paper (Fabriano Artistico HP 140lb.) 34.5" W x 49.5" H
From a series of large- and small-format color pencils drawings of plant-life and other elements of nature, that trace the relationship between art, landscape, and emotion in my work, through meticulous drawings of natural phenomena. In recent drawings, I render elements of landscape in intricate layers that seem to be off-register with each other, establishing an open and interpretive space, which speaks to the overlap between the external, natural world, and what I discern to be elemental in me.
Two ongoing themes are: what are the anthropomorphic elements of nature, and can the supernatural be located in a simple flower? To explore these, I plan to continue my use of nature and found images of such, as stand-ins for emotions and world views, and to isolate and depict natural images that resonate beyond the momentary: a sunburst in a found film still; the gesture of a spent garden daisy; or the interlocking constellations of shapes in the cosmology of Ginkgo bark.