a natural born
artist…
Growing up on the prairie outside
Wahoo, Nebraska, I had access
to a great many natural materials
and a generous view of the
horizon. I remember seeing the
tails of tornadoes, the green aura
of approaching hailstorms and
grasses taller than I, waving in
the wind. As a child, I converted
the old chicken coop into an art
studio, welded old implement
parts into sculptures and created
miniature landscapes in the
garden.
There were no art classes or
teachers nearby so it was just
me, the natural materials and my
love of expression. Yet today, in
another happy accident, this early
art scarcity drives my encaustic
artist residencies. It is a thrill to
give access to a high level of artmaking
and exquisite materials,
not only to fellow artists, but
to such unlikely groups as girl
prisoners, visually impaired teens
and elementary students in an
international school.
Fields Series: Germination, Cultivation, Ripening, Harvest
Margaret Berry
drawn to the
land…
Land is a big deal in my life. I am
not only a child of the Great Plains
landscape but also a steward
of the homestead my ancestor
pioneers plowed. Humans come
and go, but the land remains,
layered with our stories, making
it infinitely rich for art-making.
Plains writer, Willa Cather,
summed it up, “What was any
art but a mold to imprison for
a moment the shining elusive
element which is life itself- life
hurrying past us and running
away, too strong to stop, too
sweet to lose.”
Portfolio
11
Tall Grass
Fall
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