Juliet Karelsen
Universal Forest
January 25 - February 9, 2019
About the Exhibition
“In all its various forms and configurations, my work cross-references painting, stitching, tapestry, rug making, embroidery, abstract art, fantasy, landscape, textile, miniature worlds, and even science - from botany to mycology to planetary and solar - touching on the micro and macro scales. Are we looking out into the vast universe? Down at an exotic petri dish or at the lichens and moss on the forest ground? Although not overtly political, sadly, nature has become a political issue. In a world where daily interaction with plants and trees and moss and lichen (etc!) is increasingly rare, even disappearing, my work points to the importance of taking the time to slow down, notice, and protect the jewels of the forest, the world, and the universe. As Denise Levertov says in her poem “Sojourns in the Parallel World”: We live our lives [...in] / A world / parallel to our own though overlapping. / We call it ‘Nature’; only reluctantly / admitting ourselves to be ‘Nature’ too.” Words from the artist, Juliet Karelsen.
About the Artist
Juliet Karelsen studied painting at The School of The Art Institute of Chicago and The Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture. She has been painting for many years and experimenting with different forms of stitching for the last few years. Her work has been shown across Maine, New York City, New Hampshire, Boston, Ohio and abroad in Spain, Argentina and Switzerland. She was born and raised in New York City and has been living in Maine (mostly) since 1991.
