Mary Johnson | The Silver Lining and Derek Meier | Material Things

The Silver Lining by Mary Johnson 

This series of sculptures explores the ambiguity of beginnings and endings. Experiments with material histories are starting points for the work. Themes of duration and transformation are revealed in The Silver Lining, asking viewers to consider the stories of individual materials and objects.

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Artist Statement and Bio

My work presents a gathering, a confluence if you will, of what could be described as the sad ends of cast off materials. It seems uncanny how often the aspirations of these materials tend naturally toward new life, born in concert with their rejected fellows. This coming together in my work functions to negate the dreary story of the neglected and discarded, and offer in its place a new and transformed existence, a dazzling encore, a silver lining.

Mary Johnson is a Minnesota-based artist living north of St Paul, with a studio in Minneapolis. Her work is the product of a mix of traditional sculptural and craft processes. Among her inspirations are the transformations that are possible in the creation of art. She received her MFA from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, and her BFA from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. 

Material Things by Derek Meier

Material Things involves the material exchange of paint and recycled mixed media elements. Meier collages fabric, paper, and plastics into the work to create a dialogue with the paint. These paintings speak to the nature of reclamation and renewal through the process of salvaging discarded materials and building something new through them.

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Artist Statement and Bio

My work focuses on material exchange, immediacy, aesthetic dialogue and invented territories. Every image, whether objective or nonobjective, is founded on deconstructed historical, cultural, and religious paradigms.  These smashed realities are then reformed into a singular home.  Each painting, drawing, and analog collage is a further examination of this elseworld and its physical and cultural constructs.  I further maneuver these spaces with derelict icons, mixed media elements and soft narration as these languages consolidate. Negotiating the terms of this reality allow me to do the same within my own.

Derek Meier is a painter and mixed media artist based in St. Paul, MN, where he works with artists with disabilities as a Client Service Coordinator and Art Educator at Interact Center for the Visual and Performing Arts (St. Paul, MN) and as an Art Outreach Educator through Artistry (Bloomington, MN).

About the Park

We are located at Silverwood Park, 2500 County Road E, Saint Anthony, MN 55421. The gallery is open daily from 9 am - 5 pm.

Social distancing and face coverings are encouraged when visiting the gallery.

Image: Derek Meier