TOTIS 1 Mother of All
Treasures of The Inland Sea Series
Appearances
6′ T X 8 ‘ W Mixed Media, rescued wood, rope, shells, wood, metal, condoms, plastic, glass TOTIS 1 Details
I am an artist who uses fabricated components in a variety of media and rescued power objects to make art for the purpose of provoking discussions and reflection on a wide variety of social topics. The topic of this series is re-cycle, re-purpose and “pay attention to what you discard in our water!” The different objects were collected on the beaches of Lake Superior. According to The Minnesota Department of Health, you should not eat trout or salmon from Lake Superior more than once a week-pregnant or nursing=NEVER. The EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) reports Lake Superior still needs to be restocked yearly to stabilize fish populations. Superior is the largest body of fresh water on the PLANET!!
Totis 1 was created from objects connected to Minnesota waters. There is something viscerally satisfying about engineering the discarded objects I find in/on our waterways into a cohesive object which tells a story. Do my Maine seacoast roots inform my passion? You decide.
Artist as Intervenor
Each one of these objects hold its own story already. I am just an “intervenor” in their journey. Read More Review the power objects before they became the Totis Series Before
10,000 Lakes and 1 Mighty Miss 2012
26″ W X 48″ T X 28″ D Mixed Media, Rescued chair, drift wood, zebra mussel, taconite, Pual Bunyan plate, plaid fabric
In the artwork “10,000 Lakes and 1 Mighty Miss” I employed a methodology I call “recordari”, from the Latin “to remember, call to mind (re-restore and cor, genitive, cordis heart, understood by the ancients as the seat of judgment and memory” I would like to identify “10,000 Lakes and 1 Mighty Miss” and artworks like it, as representing our “lived experience” in visual form. I suggest we are practicing “recordari”, as “10,000 Lakes and 1 Mighty Miss” takes you on a journey which explores and records all the waterways I have visited in Minnesota. My adventuring was particularly soulful since I am a Maine native and a Franco-American. I have called Minnesota home for 17 years. Maine claims Paul Bunyan as their native son. Imagine how curious I was to view the Paul Bunyan sculpture residing in Bemidji, where the university I have worked at for a decade is located! Read More
Minnesota State Fair 2014. Won Honorable mention
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TOTIS 2
Treasures From The Inland Sea 2 (Totis2) Mixed Media Rescued objects from Lake Superior , wood, condom, brass, beads, glass 8” X 8” X 8” 2013
Totis 2 has been accepted for exhibition:
The International Sculpture Center Symposium. Dec 2013
Found in Our Water Project – Art-A-Whirl May. 2014
(Treasures of the Inland Sea) is a tribute and an alert to our beloved Lake Superior as seen from the beach under the lift bridge in Duluth, Minnesota. There is an unusual eddy there which creates some of the most strikingly appealing water sculpted wood I have found anywhere in the world. Lake Superior IS the Inland Sea. One of the largest freshwater lakes in the world, this amazing water has a trout and salmon alert. EPA Report
Wood Dump Duluth, Minnesota
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TOTIS 3 (Treasures from The Inland Sea 3) with Tropical Friend
4″ X 4″ X 16″ Rescued Objects, Bronze Patina 2010
Living in Minnesota, I am 1500 miles from the nearest ocean. We Mainers call ourselves the “Salt People.” I found my own sea here on Lake Superior. This work is honored with a bronze patina to age the wood and shells. It could have been found in Atlantis. Perhaps it was.
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| Totis 4 (Treasures of the Inland Sea) 8” W X 12” H X 36” D Mixed media, contaminated trout, lake Superior wood, brads, beads, metalTotis 4 is a tribute and an alert to our beloved Lake Superior as seen from the beach under the lift bridge in Duluth, Minnesota. There is an unusual eddy there which creates some of the most strikingly appealing water sculpted wood I have found anywhere in the world. Lake Superior IS the Inland Sea. One of the largest freshwater lakes in the world, this amazing water has a trout and salmon alert.It is not recommended you eat these fish from the largest body of freshwater ON THE PLANET. Ponder That! |
Twins Man 2014
8″ W X 10″T X 4 ” D Mixed media, Rescued wood, plastic twins hat found on Lake Superior
How much “hand” must appear in any given art work to meet the base line criteria for candidacy as a named “art” object.
If nature is the perfect designer, perhaps it i