GREEN (11)
The sketchbook documented the plants in my yard when we could not leave our homes in early COVID lockdown. The map defines the the number of plants found within three feet of the front door. Colors relate to the sketchbook major color of the plant as seen as the bottom of the drawing.
Earthworks
Earthworks investigates the idea that we live on this earth in near denial of our affect on it. Using the soil and debris found in and on a specific 7,700 square feet of land, I dig into the ground to find soil and rock below the surface. The paper is scrubbed with this soil, sand and rock with Mississippi River water to create an earthen patina. The rock scratches the paper, soils stains and marks. Layer upon layer of the wash dry in the sun. Rain spatters the surface. Neglected fragments are composed onto the page and drawn. The first placement creates the space and context for the next, and so on. A call and response – intuitive, unplanned, revealing.
LAMENTATIONS II (9)
The Lamentations drawings use a similar format and inspiration to earlier work from '100 Daily Blessings' but physically enlarges and psychologically deepens. Composed of eight gouache and graphite drawings, the drawings use visual metaphor in a tightly controlled psychological space to address issues of loss, fear, displacement, pain, and death and the human hunger for recovery and renewal. Careful observation is used to discover and replicate the aura of the specifically selected objects creating an overall sense of menacing and tenuous peace, meaning, and order. As the drawings touch on human emotion and conflict they recall spiritual and religious history echoing the poetic and desperate Lamentations of Jeremiah.
“As for us, our eyes as yet failed for our vain help: in our watching we have watched for a nation that could not save us.”
Lamentations of Jeremiah, Chapter 5
“The joy of our heart is ceased; our dance is turned into mourning.” Lamentations of Jeremiah, Chapter 6
LAMENTATIONS (8)
THE CREATION STORY
BIOME
INTERSECTIONS
Alyssa Baguss and Lynda Monick-Isenbergs’ work together focuses on the process and intuition of drawing. Both draw with precision, intention, and curiosity; systematically drawing three dimensions as illusion on a two- dimensional plane, investigating insignificant items that have lost their value to society while recalling their one time significance.
Through their collaborative process the artists forgoing authorship moving their work into the world of the uncertain, precarious and unpredictable with delightful and indeterminate results. This process akin to automatic drawing allows the work to move from precise, representational forms to suggestions of unexpected abstract ideas. Meaning develops as diverse concepts are freed from rational control. This work was created as part of a Minneapolis College of Art and Design exhibition of artwork made in collaborative teams of academic art department chairs and a student.
100 DAILY BLESSING
These drawings use simple 'treasures' found by my children for subject matter. The commonplace forms of stones, seeds, sticks, found bones, and rusted fragments are composed onto twelve narrow drawings inviting reflection and meditation on the blessings found in the simplest of natural and man-made forms. The gouache and graphite drawings use psychological space and careful placement to address issues of parenting, love, respect, and fear and close observation to replicate the elegant simplicity of the objects. The drawings touch on the spiritual and religious as they echo the call for ‘100 Daily Blessings’, the Jewish Orthodox requirement for 100 daily blessings of the most mundane details of living.
