Paper, mixed-media works exhibited at Ripon College

“Situated Somewhere In-Between,” an exhibit of paper and mixed-media works by Mary Hark, will be displayed from Friday, Jan. 31, through Thursday, March 13, in Caestecker Gallery, C.J. Rodman Center for the Arts, on the Ripon College campus.

Hark, a professor in design studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and an independent curator of textile and paper art exhibitions, will discuss her work at 7 p.m. Jan. 31 in the Rodman Center lobby. An opening reception will follow in the Caestecker Gallery.

Gallery hours are 1 to 5 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays; and 2 to 6 p.m. and during evening performances Saturdays and Sundays.

Hark’s Artist’s Statement:

Born and educated in the Mid-Western United States, Mary Hark’s most recent body of work is a consideration of the physical environments in which she lives and works. These constructed paintings respond to the physical topography of Central Minnesota and South Central Wisconsin, and the built environment of Kumasi, Ghana, where she spends several months each year researching textile traditions. This work celebrates the spiritual and cultural tenor specific to each place, while acknowledging the influence each has brought to her own artistic vision.

The work is made from handmade flax and linen papers, with linen cloth and other materials that carry a variety of surface qualities. These constructed paintings allow Hark to explore, among other things, the intrinsic properties of handmade paper. Absorbed color and highly textured surfaces can consider ideas that are dark and earthy, as well as luminous, airy and elegantly fragile. Hark’s work considers the poetry in accidental marks, and the transformative potential of attention and labor.

Click here to learn more about the Art Department and the Caestecker Gallery at Ripon College.

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