State of the Forest Visits TAM | idahofallsmagazine.com – Idaho Falls Magazine

IDAHO FALLS STATE OF THE FOREST by Suze Woolf, is part of the traveling museum exhibition, ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT II. Special arrangements were made to bring STATE OF THE FOREST to The Art Museum of Eastern Idaho (TAM) by David J. Wagner, Ph.D., exhibition Curator/Tour Director. The exhibit will be in Idaho Falls through April 2, 2022.

The artwork was made especially for the exhibition which premiered at The James Art Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida in 2019. The artwork is an installation consisting of 30 three-panel sets depicting and documenting individual trees charred in different forest fires in the Pacific Northwest. The art medium is watercolor on paper transferred onto polyester and silk organza panels. Each art panel is overlaid by another panel containing text by Lorena Williams documenting the respective fire. Each panel set is 52" high; widths vary from 8" to 36"" high with a contiguous floor footprint of 30'x 30.

Suze Woolf's work is about human relationships to nature. A painter, she explores a range of media from watercolor to paper-casting, from artist books to pyrography and installationsometimes all together. Her background ranges from fine art to computer graphics and interface design. Her installation State of the Forest, based on 14 years of painting individual burned trees, is currently part of the Environmental Impact II tour from 20192023.

She has exhibited throughout Washington State but also in Utah, British Columbia, Maryland, California, Colorado, Oklahoma, Arizona, and Washington DC. Her work is in regional public collections as well as many private ones. She has received awards from arts organizations, universities and colleges, residencies in Zion, Glacier, Capitol Reef and North Cascades National Parks, the Grand Canyon Trust; and art colonies such as the Banff Centre, the Vermont Studio Center, Willowtail Springs, Jentel, Playa and Centrum.

18 years have passed since Lorena Williams forced her feet into the stiff leather of new fire boots for the first time. That pair of boots is hardly recognizable now, cracked and worn beyond salvaging. This transformation is not unlike her changed perceptions of life as a firefighter and also of wildfire itself. Her early beliefs that all fire was bad and all fire crews good were too rigidstiff like new leather. The political, cultural, social, and environmental complexities once invisible to her as a rookie were revealed as she studied fire ecology, was exposed to land management politics and policies, and witnessed communities and fellow firefighters burn.

Beyond the complexities of firefighting, Lorenas writing considers those of wildfire itself. This beautiful, mysterious, and deadly element is vilified by some and celebrated by others. If we look past what is often oversimplified as destruction, we might see themes of rebirth, vitality, beauty, lovesomething more complex than just flames and char. We might find truths about ourselves and our relationships with this earth. For those who overstate the positives of wildfire with the all fire is good! mentality, perhaps a reminder is in order about mega fires, soil sterilization, debris flows, and death. It is within this range of human emotion that Lorenas story trees exist. One story explores the life-giving properties of fire and another delves into tragedy.

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT II is a traveling museum exhibition produced by David J. Wagner, L.L.C., the purpose of which is 1.) to recognize, document, and share the work of leading contemporary artists who chose to focus their work on global as well as local environmental issues; 2.) to heighten public awareness and concern about the intentional or unintentional consequences of human action or inaction, through the power of this art.

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State of the Forest Visits TAM | idahofallsmagazine.com - Idaho Falls Magazine