Local Art Seen: Artists Share the Philosophical Underpinnings of Their Work at the Duluth Art Institute

Tuesday evening there was an opening for three shows at the Duluth Art Institute: Strata, I Am What's Wrong With The World, and Popular Opinions: A Cultural Discussion. Monsoon-like rains fell as gallery visitors made their way from home or workplaces to the opening, and one could be forgiven for not being present.

Detail from piece by Natalie Salminen Rude.

This review will be about the four artists who were part of the Strata exhibition in the John Steffl Gallery on the fourth floor balcony above the Great Hall.

The artist talk began with Exhibitions Director Amy Varsek welcoming us and sharing how she reached out to these four artists to produce work that expressed the show's theme. Strata, in the culinary world, is a bread comprised of layers. The stratosphere is a layer of the atmosphere that is wedged between the troposphere and the mesosphere. It takes its name from the notion of being stratified or layered. In music, Bach's fugues were assembled from exquisitely layered interwoven themes.

How these four artists conceived their work and what they produced was amplified by the similarities and contrasts in each of their works.

Russell Prather  (L) discussing with Ms. Salminen Rude her
coffin-shaped design before the artist talks began.

Fade by Susanna Gault

Susanna Gaunt was introduced and shared details about her three-dimensional piece titled Fade. She said she was experimenting with materials she liked to work with, and found it exciting to see the connections between what she had created and what the others had done. The materials she used included thread, hat pins, semi-transparent paper, among other things. Her concept had to do with the relationship between humans and nature and the balance between the two.

The piece is a humanesque sculpture of stitched together encaustic paper boxes. At the feet of this "person" were piles of wasps or some other kind of insects.

Russell Prather shared next. At some point during the past year one of his pieces was in a show here (the Biennial if I remember correctly). Prather paints semi-transparent images on clear acetate and mounts them so as to create fascinating effects based on the manner in which they are viewed and illuminated. "I'm not sure why I am so obsessed with layering," he said.

He seems drawn to creating foods with interesting interiors, like sausage, for example.

"I like paradox," he explained. "I'm trying to create an experience that doesn't make sense, but you're OK with it." The works have a sculptural feel, but they are actually comprised of paint on 2-D surfaces. Ambiguity is another feature of the work. "If I can see through it, why can't I reach through it?" This series of photos is an attempt to convey what his work looks like. It's better to engage it in person.

Same piece as above but at a 45 degree angle, showing striations.

This Prather piece is same as the one above but with yellow rather than white
coloration. Photo at 90 degree angle shows the the painted spots on clear acetate.

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Detail from one of the structures by Natalie Salminen Rude.

Salminen Rude with two daughters alongside, discusses concept
behind the coffin-shaped piece to her right. (viewer's left)

Natalie Salminen Rude has taken her encaustic explorations into new directions, but it wasn't till I heard her talk that I could fully appreciate what was behind her 3-D structures using plat maps.

She began by sharing how Mayans used gold for beauty and decorative purposes, but when the Conquistadors came they took all the gold and melted it down to carry back to Spain in bricks. For her, this wasn't just robbery, but a decimation of culture. In our modern world we have a parallel thing happening in which "efficiency" is the highest cultural value, decimating the arts and our humanity.

The encaustic and paper surface had the appearance of fish scales.

The hand-drawn plat maps are thus a symbol of this decimation. In the old days plat maps, which as used to depict legal property lines, were hand drawn. When she learned that the old plat maps were being discarded by the county she acquired them and has been producing work using them in various ways.

She asked questions like, "What makes us human?" and "What do we need to fight for as a society?"

As she spoke about these things, Jacques Ellul's book The Technological Society (1954) and Charlie Chaplin's last silent film Modern Times (1936) came to mind. Ellul's book shows the insidious negative impact of efficiency upon our humanity.

The process in her work is connected to the earth in an interesting way. Encaustic is an ancient process that uses resin made from Malaysian beeswax. By multiple layers and embedding it producing some remarkable effects.

The titles of the pieces are also important, words woven into haiku.

Julainne Shibata discusses her multi-media Winter piece. 

Juliane Shibata was the fourth presenter. She also had a massively meticulous piece in the Biennial and her work shown here conveys the same attention to detail, interweaving ornamental patterns and natural elements.

The two works here displayed represent winter and summer. She loves multiples and loves nature. And until now she hasn't worked this much with color.

The paper on this piece was from five different countries. She noted that paper comes from plants, which we sometimes forget about. The colors correspond to seasons and the overall image involves 2-D elements and 3-D elements, with rhythmic juxtapositions. Some of the pieces are fired clays, and some are plants that slowly change over time because they are no longer alive. "The plants are a whole new element for me," she said, and speak of "temporal experience."

"Solstices: Winter" by Shibata

Detail from "Solstice: Winter"

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In short, as the artist's briefly discussed their work and the ideas behind it, all who were present saw that in each case there was "more than meets the eye" in nearly everything they were producing.

Strata will be on view through August 11 in the Steffl Gallery, fourth floor at the Depot.

Detail from Shibata's "Solstices: Summer"

"Solstices: Summer" (It's coming soon.)

A final thought to close on might be haiku title of one of NSR's pieces:

human flourishing

are we paying attention

extermination

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Post Script for Locals: Don't forget tonight's opening at Duluth Pottery. COLOR, Paintings of the Lake Superior Watercolor Society will be on display. Details Here.