JOAN MALKERSON

NOTICING SEEDS: Small and Mighty Inspiration for Big and Meaningful Art

Intro & Questions by CBJ, Rendezvous Press Media

JOAN MALKERSON, American artist working in Carrizozo, New Mexico, USA and Minnesota is turning heads and piquing the interest of art lovers and collectors with her brilliant, absorbing work and vast imagination. The artworks in her current exhibition take inspiration from mythologies, cultural histories, current science and gathered objects. Interpreting their combined intrinsic messages and responding with her considerable and varied art skills, Joan has created a one-of-a-kind presentation of artworks full of meaning and perspective. The number of works, their varied mediums, and her engaging, savvy installation of them into a story-form presentation called, “The Seed Woman” is a pleasure to encounter. See more at www.theseedwoman.art.

What follows are excerpted Q&As from a recent interview with this amazing artist ~

This exhibit includes a tremendously varied body of work. How long have you been working on the collection of artworks that has become the “The Seed Woman” exhibit?

I started in January 2022 with collecting words relating to seeds in a notebook. I started collaging with old paintings with those concepts in mind.

There are so many kinds of work in this exhibit! Do you have a favorite medium?

No. I like experimenting and challenge, and different mediums ask different things of an artist. I like being physical with my work … hands in clay is different than paint. Working with fabrics and fibers present their own unique physical sensations. The size of a work can present challenges and opportunities. I enjoy all that.

Do you tend to focus on one material at a time or have hands on all simultaneously?

Definitely simultaneously … It’s a flowing process … for this project, like most, I started noticing opportunities with materials. I had a stack of old transparent acrylic sheets that were perfect for translating some of my ideas about water. I was practicing in a pottery studio at the same time that I was thinking about seeds being stored in containers for a very long time and I started making the seed pots. Some old air ducts in the garage became symbols of industrialization which I used to communicate a connection to new world ideas. The materials integrate with other inspirations.

Please tell us more about some of your inspirations as you were creating works for “The Seed Woman” …

I love the work of Magdalena Abakanowicz and was looking at images of her artworks that show the significance of seeds as she was thinking about them. I wanted to make a work that reflects the importance, the hugeness and gravitas, of how seeds matter to our lives. I created The Dynamic Big Red Seed Pod Fiercely Devoted to Life … a gigantic, floating-in-air object that shines light on the monumental importance of the existence, survival, and travels of tiny, easily unobserved, life-sustaining seeds.

The torso pieces reflect on how we humans really are part of nature and share in responsibility to our environment and to each other. We impact the whole process immensely and our choice to be kind to the environment matters.

Often, Artists are largely absent from the technical or practical process of installing artwork into an exhibit. You are intimately involved - it seems to be actually part of your work. How do you feel about the installation aspect of how you practice your art?

When I’m making art, the process of gathering things to compose a cohesive whole is a natural part of my progressive actions on a piece. I think visually, and I gather elements in a way that creates a visual experience. When I paint, I gather palettes of colors. When I make multimedia works, I gather chards, seeds, buttons, pieces of glass … interesting things.

The installation aspect feels the same. Working in space is exciting to me, and I position artworks in a way that creates a visual experience for the viewer.

What’s next?

I have some perfume bottles that I love to paint … and I’m really interested in Thomas Moore’s book, The Original Self … We’ll see what comes next …