First National Bank Gallery CSU: December Exhibition Sonja Allen Cast and Earth

Cast and Earth is the December exhibition for the First National Bank Gallery. This exhibition is my first time working directly with an artist since I took this position. I asked Sonja Allen, a graduate student at Colorado State University, because I wanted the public to begin thinking about what constitutes art.

This is the title display and Sonja's artist bio.

Artist Bio

Sonja Allen was born in July of 1988 in Burlington, Vermont. In 2011 she received both her BA in sculpture and her BS in marine science from the University of Maine, Orono. In 2018 she will receive her MFA in sculpture from Colorado State University. Her work has been represented by the Redfield Artisans Gallery in Northeast Harbor, ME, and can currently be seen at Thurston’s Lobster Pound in Bernard, ME as well as the Aquaculture Research Center and Marine Science Department front office at the University of Maine, Orono. Upcoming shows for Allen include two group exhibition, one at Adams State University in Alamosa, CO in February of 2017 and the other at Towson University in Towson, MD in the summer of 2017. While moving from the East coast to the West has shifted Allen’s focus from marine organisms and processes to the reciprocity of place, she continues to remains interested in the changes in the environment brought on by human actions. Both her materials and imagery are reflections of the geographic locations she’s in, and she is eager to explore what this will look like when she returns to New England.

These are some installation views of the exhibition. I couldn't find stanchions when I did the initial installation, so I used caution tape temporarily.

I like the exterior view of the gallery at night, it adds a lot of interest to the exhibition. I wanted to have the sculpture of Chance Meeting in this window, but the sculpture was to fragile to move and we decided against it.

Artist Statement

By using gathered organic materials of a particular region, such as clay, hair, earth, sand, and sticks, I feel most acutely connected to the place I’m in. I feel present in nature, and more in tune with the nature of the self. The complexity of life, the inevitability of death, and the possibility of a collective unconscious that embraces all of humanity are at the forefront of my mind. By using the human figure to symbolically stand in for a universal human form, I tug on that thread of unconsciousness that orients our species back to the part of us which is still wild and connected to the land. There is an innate need, whether we reside in an urban or rural area, to feel connected to something natural. As time passes, the earth as we see it changes. Whether these changes are for better or worse is subjective, but no matter what we attempt to do the planet of today will never look like the planet of yesterday. I’m not interested in looking nostalgically back towards an unobtainable past, but to understand the present through authentic experiences within the land. These experiences manifest themselves in imagery that pays homage to the balance that must be found between the natural and unnatural way in which individuals move through the world.

Body Cast into the Land 216

rammed earth (Portland Cement, sand gathered from the Cache la Poudre River, clay and earth gathered from Fort Collins, CO), sticks gathered from the Environmental Learning Center in Fort Collins, CO, grass collected from the McMurry Nature Area, twine

46 x 48 x 37 inches

Detail

Portrait of the Past 2016

rammed earth (Porland Cement, sand, clay and earth gathered from Fort Collins, CO), flora gathered from Lory State Park, Fort Collins, CO, steel

Road Less Traveled 2016

rammed earth (Portland Cement, sand, clay, powder, earth gathered from the stadium construction site, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO), rebar, sticks, concrete

Chance Meeting 2016

rammed earth (Portland Cement, sand, clay and earth gathered from Fort Collins, CO), hair donated by Floyd's 99 Barbershop in Fort Collins, CO, burlap, rebar, concrete, bison hooves cas off of a donated bison hoof from Terry Bison Ranch in Cheyenne, WY, bison nose cast from carving made through observation of the stuffed bison found at the Fort Collins Museum of Discovery, Fort Collins, CO

58 x 116 x 20 inches