Becoming

 Winter is a time for deep reflection and reckoning. This season has been a difficult one with a lot to sort through. Since the coming north, I realize that I’m still in the process of moving. Sorting, packing, and letting go, mentally this time. The distance has allowed for new insight into events of the past and in decisions about how things should be now, moving forward.

Work in progress - handwoven fabric, vintage linens and endless amounts of scraps.

I’ve had moments sitting in the dark not understanding which way to go. It is frustrating on many levels, but I must remember that it is often like this in the middle. Gradually, we can have a glimpse of the direction things are going. Becoming is a slow process and I can feel the pace of life starting to quake. In the studio I have been following an instinct to find ways to dealing with scraps, found vintage textiles and past pieces that never worked. I have been experimenting with them and have some works in progress. On my loom I’m still working with rag rug structure as a launching point for new work. I’ve been thinking a lot about the saying “sweep it under the rug.” As I work to uncover my family story, I’ve been pulling up the rugs and look for what was hidden.

Rag rug coming off the loom. The color mixing on this one surprised me. I want to make more.

This exploration on the loom seems to have legs. I keep having questions to answer, ideas to try out. I love the color potential of rugs with painted warps and my own hand dyed fabric. There are so many ways to bring color and texture to life. And there are so many surprises.

scraps get cut and joined together for rag rug weaving.

This year one of my overarching goals is to search out new communities to join. I’ve begun to wonder if I’ll seek out a studio space outside of my home to work in and to be closer to other artists. I’m looking for opportunities to join my passion for the outdoors, art and education.

One of the biggest surprises from the move is how much I have changed. This place, this Minnesota has worked some magic on me. I feel myself becoming more myself here. My attunement of place has heightened and I’m finding myself more curious. There is an audible psychic sigh of relief in our part of Minnesota. On Wednesday the snow began to fly in the afternoon and continued into the evening quite heavily. We woke up the next day to about six inches of snow. This is our first significant snow of the season. We had a seasonal total of four inches of snow until the other day (with over ninety inches last winter). The anxiety of Minnesotans was palpable. Though we may complain about the snow, it is part of what it means to be part of this place.

The sun after the snow. The light and shadows are so beautiful.

Watershed Moments: Art for Water

My project with Art for Water, a program of the Minnesota Water Stewards and sponsored by Freshwater and Hennepin County, has reached its conclusion. My exhibition, Watershed Moments, opens October 10 and runs through November 7th at the Hopkins Center for the Arts. The opening reception is October 26, 6 - 8 pm in the member artist spotlight on the first floor of the center.

Exhibition Postcard

Exhibition Postcard Information

The work is this eight-piece series composed of layers of handmade paper, painted and handwoven fabric, and embroidery. They form interconnected maps with each other and stand alone as well. My work has always had a theme of connection to nature. As a new Minnesotan, I have been thinking about what it means to be in relationship with the places and waters around me. There is imperative to care in this mutual relationship. The land and waters provide a home and life for us and we must do our part to care for them as well. The Water Steward program offered me a starting point of knowledge about how we as a community can protect our waters. This protection starts with our individual connections with places that we love.

Watershed I

12" h x 12" w x 1" d mounted

Mixed media - hand painted linen handwoven fabric, machine stitched with hand embroidery on handmade paper.

2023

This year has been marked by visits to water, forming new points of connection and researching what my Art for Water project would evolve to be.  I began in the spring by visiting Lake Superior and even having a quick dip. This summer I visited the headwaters of the Mississippi River. This was a place that loomed large in my mind. My husband made a trip twenty years ago, before we met, and told me stories of that trip. It was in part what lead us to move to Minnesota.

The trail to the headwaters

The Mississippi has always been a presence in my mind. I remember vising the river front a lot as a child – the annual fair, the McDonald’s riverboat restaurant, and the many floods that impacted St. Louis. My husband and I were married overlooking the river at a park. I’ve been the river’s other end point in New Orleans. At each point along the river, it changes, but all the parts that I’d seen before had been large, turbulent and full of barge traffic.

The Mississippi River from Bee Tree Park, St. Louis, Missouri

The Mississippi River at the headwaters is quiet. It emerges from Lake Itasca where wild rice sways in the wind. The boundary between the lake and the river is marked by stones. Some tourists scramble over the rocks to cross the river to the other side while others wade. At the time of our visit the water levels were lower than when my husband visited so long ago. We waded into the water to cross. The crossing water was shallow, cold, and clear.

Lake Itasca with wild rice in background, Mississippi River begins

Lake Itasca State Park is about three and half hours from the Twin Cities. The dive up set the stage for the trip up. The farther up north you go, the move wild the landscape becomes and signs for cabins and resorts reveal where Minnesotans spend summer vacation days. Minnesotans often talk about “up north.”

Standing along the bank and looking at the river it was startling to see it as a narrow stream. It snakes along in the north and gradually becomes the river that I’ve known. At the headwaters, it is a place of quiet contemplation. I’d like to go back at some point and spend more time exploring the park and seeing more of Lake Itasca.

While on the trip we ventured to Lake Bemidji State Park and walked the bog. The walk is a quarter mile stroll along a wooden boardwalk. I don’t think I’ve ever been in this type of wetland before.  It was a beautiful quiet place where land and water meet.

The lush growth of the bog, Lake Bemidji State Park

This summer I’ve had the chance to kayak the Mississippi River a few times. On one of the longer trips our guide ushered us into Lock and Dam Number 1. We grabbed onto ropes and dropped forty feet before paddling out to our end point. The River near the Twin Cities has been designated a recreation area and managed by a partnership of federal, state, regional, cities and private owners. The area has been managed to return the river to a more natural state and as a result birds, wildlife and the ecosystem have returned.

The shore along the Mississippi River - I collected a fair amount of trash. Leave no trace.

I have also spent a significant amount of time with my local lake, Shady Oak. It is a place that I visit often. Swimming season is at an end, but I still wade and enjoy the sunsets there.

The sunset at Shady Oak Lake

Wading in the water - can you spot the fish?

Minnesota is such an easy place to love. Outside in the fall is glorius.

Impaired Water

I never really thought much about rag rugs until lately. So it is with some amusement that I have found myself drawn to making them. In the past,  I’ve made a few functional rugs for my studio space, and I love living with them. I love that I can reuse textiles or use up fabrics that have been languishing in my fabric collection. Rag rugs represent a link to culture for me, on both my Swedish and Finnish sides. They are so common in homes of Nordic decedents. I have a book and a DVD on my shelf about the rag rugs of Finnish American weavers. My new preoccupation is using a rag rug foundation to layer fabrics and stitches to build upon the meaning of home, culture, and to reuse my maps of environments and places in nature.

 I started by hand painting a linen warp to build colors of the warp with the colors of the rags that I’m using. I cut down remnant fabrics from other projects, overdyed textiles from the home, and perhaps my favorite, fabrics that were once pieces that didn’t work out, leaving the stitches in place and letting them poke out into the rug. I love seeing how color can be altered while the weaving is taking place.

Rag rug in progress on the loom with stitch remnants from a previous incarnation.

My latest work, Impaired Water, resulted from this experimentation. In this piece, I wove on a linen painted warp with linen fabric scraps and handmade paper. The paper is printed with the names of names of impaired waters found in the seven counties of the Twin Cities Metro areas. Monitoring water impairment and reporting findings every two years are requirements of the Clean Water Act. Impairments can include bacteria, litter sediment, and fertilizers. Storm water runs unfiltered off lawns, parking lots and roads and ends up in our lakes, streams, and rivers. Local and state governments are working to mitigate the impacts on our water. There is also a lot that individuals can do to improve water health in their neighborhoods and communities. To learn more, visit the Minnesota Water Stewards website at https://minnesotawaterstewards.org.

Impaired Water, 2023

When I wrote my proposal for the Art for Water project, I proposed a group of eight pieces for exhibition in the fall. Since I have continued my research into the project, it became clear that this wasn’t going to be just a single project, but a body of work. Impaired Water is the first piece.

Detail of Impaired Water with the names of water weaving in and out of visibility.

I received news this week that Impaired Water was accepted into the Minnesota State Fair Fine Art Exhibition. I’m thrilled that it will be seen by so many at the state fair, bringing the message of protecting our water to many people.