Along the Mississippi River, 'Water | Craft' Is a Confluence of Art, Culture, and Ecology

"When we think of terms like "flowing" or "fluid," we could be referring to the nature of water, but we can also just as easily apply these concepts to our understanding of art and craft. Fabrics "pool" and different mediums converge. The nature of creativity is often referred to in terms of an "ebb and flow." Ecologically speaking, bodies of water are metaphorically woven into the fabric of our planet. Rivers and lakes sustain an abundance of life, shape cultures, and course through history."

"Water | Craft, a group exhibition at the Minnesota Marine Art Museum, dives into this question. The museum itself is situated on the banks of the Mississippi River and often directly engages with its expansive biological and cultural reach. Works by seven artists, whose practices incorporate weaving, pottery, basketry, glass, and textile arts, directly interface with contemporary issues of water access and cultural preservation amid climate change."

"Colossal readers may be familiar with the mixed-media pieces of Tali Weinberg and Nicole McLaughlin, both of whom combine quantities of colorful thread with other materials in meditations on interconnectivity and multi-disciplinarity. Weinberg translates ecological data into tendril-like installations and abstract weavings, such as a series of three pieces from her Climate Datascapes series that visualize information about silt in the Upper Mississippi River. McLaughlin's dramatically fringed ceramic platters reference Pre-Columbian cultures and the continuum of human history and time."

Water | Craft is a group exhibition at the Minnesota Marine Art Museum on the banks of the Mississippi River that engages the biological and cultural reach of waterways. Seven artists working in weaving, pottery, basketry, glass, and textiles address contemporary issues of water access, cultural preservation, and climate change. Tali Weinberg translates ecological data into tendril-like installations and abstract weavings, including Climate Datascapes pieces that visualize silt in the Upper Mississippi River. Nicole McLaughlin creates dramatically fringed ceramic platters referencing Pre-Columbian cultures and the continuum of human history. Tanya Aguiñiga produces intricately knotted wall works containing terracotta forms that cascade to the floor. Rowland Ricketts contributes a large-scale installation titled "Bow."

Read at Colossal