If we allow it to take over any of our landscapes, it will, it's kind of resilience that it may not actually ever die, it might just become dormant. And if you let it grow, and it has the water and the sunlight that it needs, it'll just kind of take over. And so I think the idea that if we abandon any of our manmade structures or landscapes, it'll kind of creep and make its way in. And I think that's really interesting.
Even an urban setting, nature finds a way to creep in. This is random acts of knowledge presented by Heartland Community College. I'm your host, Steve fast. In this episode, we're speaking with an artist whose work has been inspired by giant glaciers melting, and floating icebergs. But her latest work is more closely tied to something seen in the Midwestern setting, sometimes under her feet.
Hi, my name is Laura promotic. George, I am showing and then Jim McCauley gallery at Heartland in a show titled in between the cracks.
So tell us a little bit about this show. Why is it called in between the cracks? The work
that I've been making, in the last, I guess three years has kind of slowed me down and looking at the landscape and environment kind of close proximity to me, literally underneath my feet. So previously, I've been making work about climate change, and icebergs and glaciers. And I felt very disconnected to Glacier landscapes and icebergs having not seen them for quite a few years. And I've been thinking about climate change, and kind of how our impact that can be seen from climate change, like literally underneath our feet, and how, you know, these tiny little landscapes of moss seem kind of resilient to it a little bit, we can step on it, we can scrape it aside, and it is pretty persistent. And it's really beautiful. And so I kind of think about it as something that will last beyond us kind of past our manmade landscapes that might crumble and fall apart, moss will kind of survive and thrive. And so yeah, I started kind of looking in between the cracks.
So describe the work that's in the exhibit. Is it all sculpture?
Yes, although I will say that there are five new pieces that are framed that are our last three dimensional. So that's the newest work that I've made, there are quite a few pedestal pieces. And they're made from ceramic, concrete textiles, and there is some real moss and a few of the sculptures. And then the wall pieces that are framed, are also concrete with some flocking. And as I said, those are the newest pieces, they're a little bit more two dimensional, but I'm trying to work on a scale that is a little bit more manageable, for my studio practice with the lifestyle that I have right now. So with family and a full time job, you kind of have to have a certain amount of time in the studio to get anything done, you know, time management. And so working on the smaller pieces allows me to kind of get in there when I can. So going back a
little bit. You said you had done some research and you had some work that was from the research about glaciers and icebergs. Can you talk a little bit about that research and what you learned, then your path to get from that project to the one you have arrived at now? Yeah, absolutely.
I guess that initially started in 2006. And I had taken a trip on a family trip to Alaska, and I saw icebergs melting. And at the time, they were kind of like just this beautiful, precious object. And I was interested in making them out of porcelain, and kind of showing how they melt and change and form and, and they were all out of porcelain at that time. So it was like this precious material too. And I was interested in kind of showing the preciousness, their fragility, and bringing that into a gallery so people can kind of reflect on it and think about climate change and how we impact it. And then over the next 10 years or so, that research progressed, I traveled to Greenland and did a two week kayaking trip and gathered a whole bunch of images and audio recording for research and just felt very connected with that landscape at that time. So I felt like I continue making work about climate change and including, you know, forms and images of glaciers and icebergs, but since I haven't been in that landscape for so long, I felt like I needed to feel more grounded and connected to the landscape in central Illinois really. I started going to nature preserves and looking literally at the concrete you know that we were walking on and seeing how moss can grow and take over an entire forest trees that fall down and kind of blanket over the top of the trunks but also exists like I said, like walking down the sidewalk.
Did studying moss give you any different perspective? On the manmade effects that we have seen on the natural world, so obviously, if you're studying glaciers, you're studying icebergs, the topic of global warming comes up in the fact that raising temperatures help contribute melting glaciers. And with moss, have you seen an effect of what humans do on that? Well, I
think if we allow it to take over any of our landscapes, it will. And I think that persistence is what I'm interested in, in its kind of resilience that it may not actually ever die, it might just become dormant. I mean, if you let it grow, and it has the water and the sunlight that it needs, it'll just kind of take over. And so I think the idea of that, if we abandon any of our manmade structures, or landscapes, it'll kind of creep and make its way in. And I think that's really interesting, when we see glaciers and icebergs melting, but on the other hand, we see moss kind of growing and thriving. And that kind of contradicting that a little bit, I think, is what I'm trying to research a little bit more with my work. Yeah.
So did that give you any particular perspective in the grand scheme of things? How nature might be resilient, and how it's definitely a concern of what's happening to nature due to global temperatures, increasing how that's affecting people less so the nature because nature will eventually it's going to be around unless we totally lose our atmosphere? And then we will just have a different environment, say, what is your work say about that, in that, you know, there is a resiliency, but quite often the viewer thinks of nature, maybe as a victim, maybe it's just an adaptation.
I think you're right, unless, and maybe this isn't our future, this things totally change in the world. And we have a flooding across all of the plains, not just the east and west closer, you know, something explosive like that could happen. I think it is, you know, goes through changes and cycles. And I think that sometimes, for me, even thinking about the ice cap, or glaciers or icebergs melting can be overwhelming. And taking a moment and just taking a moment to look at the landscape within, you know, in an I'm saying specifically in the Midwest and central Illinois, walking in nature reserve and kind of seeing the beauty of when nature does take over. I don't know just gives us a moment to enjoy it.
When you're working on these projects, the in between the cracks, exhibit projects, what are you trying to do with the different pieces? And how are you trying to differentiate them? What is this material and in using these materials brought out in the different things you might be trying to say in the series,
I think I'm drawn to really what I think are really beautiful materials. So I love porcelain, I love high firing it getting a melty, glossy surface to it. I love using both textile, moss natural moss kind of in within the same gallery space. I like having that comparison between those, those materials for that reference. And I love concrete. It's this hard, really strong, sturdy surface. But you can also make it really shiny and glistening, light and beautiful. For me the materials really play into like bringing this beautiful sense to nature, in a gallery space. Again, it's my artificially nature besides the natural moss that I kind of scoop up and cradle and bring it into the gallery space and try to like take care of it and water it and and help it survive outside of its natural habitat. So I think by doing that, for me, it's about the preciousness, it's about the beauty of it. It is about still the fragility but the strength of it because, you know, porcelain is beautiful, it's strong, but it also can break and crack and concrete, super strong. And I think I'm really drawn to the beauty of the materials,
like you said, the used real moss and some of this, is it alive still, or is it something that I don't know the lifespan of
it is so it might become dormant. And I tried to come into the gallery depending on where I'm showing it. I've had gallery systems water it for me while it's in the show. Or I just come in and try to replace it with other mosques that I have kind of growing in my own little greenhouse to help it kind of survived throughout the show that at some point I do kind of just let it exist and do what it needs to do. You know as the as the show might come to an end but then I just replace it for another show. So there is a lifecycle with it that I kind of enjoy as well.
So this is the first exhibit that I can recall where somebody might have to come in and water it
will shop new I don't know if I'm going to have her do it. I told her I would bring in other portions of it throughout the show every week. I bring in and replace, it
may save you grow, or at least maintain your own moss at home. So let's talk about this from beginning to end. Did you go out collect it and then start to grow it and then decide, this is what I need here. Are there different kinds, different textures, different colors? What are you doing with your natural materials there?
In my basement studio, I have like a large Yes, it's actually like a Pyrex dish that I have underneath the greenhouse light system and in a damp dampening when I want to say plastic around underneath a table basically. So it creates moisture in there. So I water it. And the textures are. I'm so glad you mentioned that are like, incredibly interesting and important to it too. Because I've taken Moss from some of the parks around here from my backyard from outside buildings on campus that I think are interesting. And there are different textures and colors. And I'm really drawn to ones that I see that pop up in different places that seem unusual to me like that, you know, I wouldn't normally see that growing in a in a location. So yeah, I think that's definitely part of it.
What are some of the places that you've seen it grow that kind of inspired you to make some of these pieces?
Well, there's two, I can tell you two specific stories. So there's one for overgrowth is a sculpture that is in the gallery. And it's the larger floor piece, I was walking in Shawnee National Park, and walking with two of my close friends and we kind of looked over into the wood kind of thick wooded area, and there was this beautiful tree that was covered with moss, it was totally covered. So the sculpture that I have isn't the real moss. But it is that piece is reference to this amazing Moss, it just took over an entire tree stump. And frankly, it blanketed like the whole rolling hills, there wasn't it didn't seem like from our perspective, there was any part of it that wasn't covered in moss anymore. So that when I you know vividly remember all the different textures and colors that we could see. And that is the overgrowth sculpture. And then the ones that I've the piece that has a terracotta back, like brick back into it. And then a concrete kind of base to it. That is referenced to outside of CVA at ISU center for Visual Arts, where I teach and work there is this part of the building where there's always big chunk of moss growing there. And even though like you can kind of scrape it aside or they tried to clean it up, it always seems to come back. kind of kick get rid of it.
As somebody comes in experiences this exhibit, what are the things that you really want them to take away just looking at these pieces, interacting with these pieces, by the time they come and leave? What are you hoping that the impression it makes would be? I hope
that they come in and they have an intimate relationship with some of the pieces, some of them when they get really small, and you can kind of get close and look at the moss, and it stops, it makes you stop and think about the landscape that is, you know, you can walk past every day. And kind of make you think about something that kind of seems to survive without us. In makes you think about you know, climate change and how we can directly impact landscapes in a very negative way. Or if we kind of let it thrive and survive without having any human interaction with it really is a beautiful, natural thing that can kind of grow on its own if we just let it.
So I want to ask you one other thing about the size of some of the pieces that they are smaller. They're described as micro environments. Can you get a little into that about the size of it? Are they designed to be small, so people really have to lean in?
Yep, absolutely. So even the largest piece, the overgrowth, I think maybe it's about close to four feet by four feet, but it's on the floor. And I really want to invite the viewer to come in and look at the textures and kind of inspect this surface and materials more. So yes, absolutely. I think the small scale of it is to invite the viewer to looking closer and to consider the materials and the textures and the surface quality of the materials. Yeah.
Now is this work continuing on? Are you making other pieces that are kind of falling this truck? Are you going to shift gears again you think and and do something different? Maybe the pandemic had something with you wanting to kind of work closer to home as opposed to travel? Or are you exploring this topic for a while?
Oh, I'm gonna Yeah, I'm gonna explore it for a while. I think I'm just starting these wall pieces. And I have a lot to explore with a more I'm curious about how I'm going to change the process of pouring the concrete to create more interesting forms. and maybe incorporating more textiles and in addition to the flocking that I've been using, so I think the new wall pieces or new start for me for a new series that I'll continue Yeah.
Well Laura, thanks for talking to us today about this exhibit and your work.
Thank you so much
Laura promotic George is a sculptor, and her exhibit in between the cracks is on display at Joe McCauley gallery on the campus of Heartland Community College until mid December of 2022. If you're interested in other interviews about art, literature, history or other topics, subscribe to random acts of knowledge on Apple podcasts on Spotify, or wherever you found this one.
