E X H I B I T I O N S
A Word About Our Non-Representational Art
Our art is nearly always non-representational. The purpose of this porous visual language is to leave art, and the reality to which it points, open to the experience of the viewer. We trust that the viewer will continue the image and finish the thought, out of their particular experience. That requires the kind of rich metaphorical language that is open and multifaceted. Very often viewers of abstract art want an explanation, which means to slot the meaning into categories already predetermined and controlled.
PREVIOUS EXHIBITIONS
+ Minnesota
Hopkins Center for the Arts, Hopkins
White Bear Lake Center for the Arts, White Bear Lake
Bethlehem Lutheran Church Gallery, Minneapolis
ArtReach St. Croix Gallery, Stillwater
MacRostie Art Center, Grand Rapids
+ Wisconsin
Phipps Art Center, Hudson
+ Washington, US
Holden Village, Wenatchee National Forest
USFS Gallery, Stehekin
At the Edges of Wilderness
WILDERNESS
Artist Statement
Nature is a sacred text and for us the original text. The cycles of the seasons offer deep wisdom and we honor the earth as our original sacred space. We live in what we might call an age of forgetting. We have forgotten who we are in relation to everything else: the creatures, the plants, the mountains, the forests, the oceans, one another, and even ourselves.
In this series of paintings we explore boundary as the edge or margin where things connect and find new beginnings. While our paintings are a study of edges, boundaries, and contrasts coming together, our continuing narrative inspiration is about bearing tension. The boundaries and edges are not divisions but the places that hold tension and allow something new to rise from the struggle. For us, tension is a place where we sense the breath of Spirit moving and creating within and through each of us. As our paintings progressed, we realized that part of what we were painting was the aftermath of the forest fire we experienced in 2015.The edges of the Wolverine fire contained immense destructive power, but also set the table for the re-birthing of the forest and the beauty that followed. Living on this wilderness boundary, and in that tension, we have born witness to the earth’s resurrection.
At the Edges of Wilderness: A Genesis+Art Exhibition
For questions about this exhibition + presentation, please CONTACT US
PREVIOUS EXHIBITIONS
+ Minnesota
Bethlehem Lutheran Church Gallery, Minneapolis
Seeds of Time
WONDER
Artist Statement
Nothing exists in isolation. There are literally trillions of large rocky masses in our solar system, all of them orbiting around the galactic center. They reflect time scales of hundreds of millions and billions of years. Whether holding small earthbound rocks and stones in our hands, or viewing giant orbiting asteroids through a telescope, we have been fascinated by these geologic objects as seeds and keepers of time.
Few of us have any concept of the enormous timescales in our planet’s long history. Rocks help us chart the planet’s past. What seems like an inanimate object, rocks can become a living seed of time that enables us to look and see our place on that time scale in a new way. The lifespan of Earth may seem unfathomable compared to the brevity of human existence, but understanding the rhythms of Earth’s deep past can give us perspective.
To many physicists, while we experience time as psychologically real, time is not fundamentally real. The notion that time is segmented into the past, the present, and the future is unhelpful and even inaccurate. Time does not pass, time simply is. Time is a social construct we use to navigate and better manage our lives. At the deepest foundations of nature time is not a primitive, irreducible element or concept required to construct reality. These days we find ourselves living in a world of unfolding and becoming in the present, and less in a world reflecting on the past or projecting into the future.
Our series of paintings explore how we fit into the Earth’s history. We wonder if our conception of time affects the way we think and behave as we process the mysterious flexibility of time. These many moving parts of the galaxy or the planet creates tension as they connect or collide. Tension creates the gift of knowledge and creates energy where we engage and learn.
Edges + Boundaries
WILDERNESS
Artist Statement
We spent nearly six years living in the mountain wilderness, giving us the opportunity to live deeply into place. It took us a while to grow into this community where owls, deer and bear are form the natural civilizations of this wildness. We were the guests. We bore witness to the destructive power of the Wolverine Fire and the rebirth of the forest in its aftermath. We occupied the land that was once inhabited by Chelan, Entiat, Wenatchi and Yakama Tribes. Our sense of scale and belonging on the earth was re-formed, and we found ourselves learning from the trees, mountains, rocks and animals. They all have their own language and hold ancient knowledge.
For questions about this exhibition + presentation, please CONTACT US
PREVIOUS EXHIBITIONS
+ Washington, US
Holden Village, Wenatchee National Forest
+ Minnesota, US
Luther Seminary, St. Paul
St. Paul’s Monastery, St. Paul
St, Olaf College, Northfield
United Theological Seminary, New Brighton
Bethlehem Lutheran Church, Minneapolis
+ Missouri, US
Hobbs Studios, Kansas City
19 Below Gallery, Kansas City
Beneath the Surface: Exploring the Layers
PALESTINE + ISRAEL
Artist Statement
While we have tried to draw deep inspiration from our first journey into the ancient world of Palestine and Israel, we can in no way represent the realities that we encountered. The Holy Lands offered us personal glimpses into it contrasts, vibrancy and yearnings for the elusive dream of peace. We experienced the complexity of daily life, that in many ways defines our world, whether we like it or not. We encountered unprecedented hospitality, warmth and generosity from Palestinian, Arab and Israeli, from Muslim, Christian and Jew.
We shared stories immersed in ancient religious traditions that often overlapped and interacted in unpredictable ways, creating layers that engaged the soul in combinations that belong to specific groups, yet belong to everyone. There is an immense and intricate mosaic of people where much is divided and in conflict. Its diversity and richness exudes passion, emotion and spiritual energy as much as it does intolerance, danger and the trampling of basic human rights. It’s filled with harsh reality, yet sensual. When you touch the ancient walls and stones it’s as if you are making connections with all who have touched them.
Our creative process, like our journey, is not to render something but to allow the texture, layers and paint to suggest an ancient path through the work as it develops. Although visually abstract, we often retain faint echoes of symbol and landscape inspired by the colors and layered mark making we found so prevalent in our pilgrimage. Our abstractions are memories, spiritual reflections and prayers forged in color, shape and form.
Beneath the Surface: A Genesis+Art Exhibition
For questions about this exhibition + presentation, please CONTACT US
Creation Series: Permanent Installation
NORTHERN IRELAND
Skainos Chapel, Belfast
Artist Statement
The artistic direction for our Skainos Project and the East Belfast Mission prayer paintings took into consideration the intimacy of the architectural form created for this sacred space. The size and treatment of the painting surface and color were created to give a sense of prayerful intimacy. Each piece of our art began with our own prayers penciled onto the raw canvas. Beneath our many layers of paint, the prayers began a dialogue with the Divine, blessing and invocation calling the viewer into a glimpse of the mystery of God’s intimacy, love and grace. We offer our paintings as a visual pathway to prayer and contemplation.
Our inspiration is grounded in the writings of Glenn Jordan of Skainos titled, The City of God in the Here and Now; the re–imagining of a sacred community in East Belfast that birthed Skainos. Its many mystical references to imagining, thin places, creativity, transformation, garden paradise and renewal conjured portals to the divine and of a space where we find walls soaked with stories.
The mystical references drew us to the creation story and garden paradise narratives of Genesis, seeing God as creative author. We were also inspired by John’s proclamation in his Book of Revelation of a new vision and imagining of the heavenly city breaking into this world. The thread that connects these stories is love. And in Song of Sol 4:15 “Thou art a fountain of gardens, a well of living waters, and flowing streams from Lebanon.” We have worked with these texts for inspiration and the central element for the larger painting. Water is a vital component to East Belfast, (meaning river mouth) and creations element that allows life to abound both physically and spiritually.
For questions about this exhibition + presentation, please CONTACT US
PREVIOUS POP-UP EXHIBITIONS
+ Minnesota
Hopkins Center for the Arts, Hopkins
White Bear Lake Center for the Arts, White Bear Lake
Bethlehem Lutheran Church Gallery, Minneapolis
ArtReach St. Croix Gallery, Stillwater
+ Washington, US
Wenatchee National Forest + Glacier Peak Wilderness
Holden Village, Wenatchee National Forest
Soul Totems
WILDERNESS
Artist Statement
Our Soul Totems are a reflection on our time living in the remote wilderness. We responded to the beauty of the tree and its story left after the Wolverine Fire of 2015. As we are faced with the reality of climate change, the web of all life, and its impact on our earth home, we continue to form many questions. What shall we do now? How can we protect the most vulnerable of our fellow humans from prejudice and violence? How can we preserve the Earth and its creatures from devastation? How can we restore kindness and advocate for truth-telling and care for our earth?” Whatever happens next, the cultural conversation about nature will require us to come together with our earth community to face what lies ahead. We offer our reflections as prayers for wholeness.
For questions about this exhibition + presentation, please CONTACT US