LOUISE KAMES
ARTIST STATEMENT
In recent
years my work has included drawings of organic imagery, roots and leaves
arranged in an iconic manner as well as installations honoring personal history.
Drawings of transitory organic forms and installation works present the viewer with
timeless, meditative spaces. In many cases the still life subject of drawings has been
reclaimed from compost piles and roadside clippings. Each diverse ecosystem I encounter,
ranging from the excavated college parking lot to mountain pathways yields potent subject
matter. The paradox that natural decay can be beautiful suggests a universal yet everyday
cycle of death and resurrection.
arranged in an iconic manner as well as installations honoring personal history.
Drawings of transitory organic forms and installation works present the viewer with
timeless, meditative spaces. In many cases the still life subject of drawings has been
reclaimed from compost piles and roadside clippings. Each diverse ecosystem I encounter,
ranging from the excavated college parking lot to mountain pathways yields potent subject
matter. The paradox that natural decay can be beautiful suggests a universal yet everyday
cycle of death and resurrection.
I am
attracted to the flux between life’s fullness and death, and the traces of life
after death.
The time-charged transformative process yields form that is beautiful to the attentive eye.
In my artwork the experience is translated to formal arrangements that draw the viewer into
that act of attention.
The time-charged transformative process yields form that is beautiful to the attentive eye.
In my artwork the experience is translated to formal arrangements that draw the viewer into
that act of attention.
A meditative
and regular drawing practice re-enacts the rigor of a devout religious
practitioner. Drawing serves as a research strategy for new imagery as it is often
preparatory for additional work in etching and relief prints, installation or sculptural
forms. The work can be approached as straightforward drawings made from direct
observation of natural forms as well as referencing traditional religious iconography.
practitioner. Drawing serves as a research strategy for new imagery as it is often
preparatory for additional work in etching and relief prints, installation or sculptural
forms. The work can be approached as straightforward drawings made from direct
observation of natural forms as well as referencing traditional religious iconography.
"Siena IV"
"Siena 1"
"Iris Seed Pods I" pastel on paper, 20" x 11” 2011
"Garlic Scape"
BIO
Louise Kames' drawings, print and installation-based work is exhibited widely including solo exhibitions at The Hearst Center for the Arts, Cedar Falls, IA, The Dubuque Museum of Art, Central College, Pella, Simpson College, Indianola, IA, Viterbo College, LaCrosse, WI, The Quad City International Airport Gallery, the Blanden Memorial Art Museum in Fort Dodge, IA, Joan Kuyper Farver Art Gallery, Pella, IA, and the Sioux City Art Center. She is a regular participant in regional, national and international juried exhibitions.Kames has been awarded Artists Residencies at Frans Masereel Centrum, Kasterlee, Belgium; The Tyrone Guthrie Centre, County Monaghan, Ireland; Banff Centre for the Arts, Alberta, Canada; Ragdale Foundation, Lake Forest, IL; Oberpfälzer Künstlerhaus in Schwandorf, Germany; Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, Sweet Briar, VA; and Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, VT.
Kames serves on the City of Dubuque’s Arts and Culture Affairs Commission and the Art of the River Committee. Kames was a Membership Coordinator for the Southern Graphics Council from 2003 to 2009. She holds a Master of Fine Arts degree in drawing and printmaking from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, a Master of Arts degree in Art History from the University of Illinois and a Bachelor of Arts degree in studio art and art history from Clarke University. She is a professor of art at Clarke University where she chairs the Art and Art History Department.