Vol. 1 Movement Toward the Open

Prints and constructions by Lisa Lofgren with assistance from Ava Erickson, writings and photographs by Matt Erickson on view April of 2021 at Lincoln Arts Institute in Lincoln, IL.

“By the ‘Open’ it is not sky or air or space that is meant; they too, for the human being who observes and judges, are ‘objects’ and thus ‘opaque’ and closed. The animal or the flower presumably is all that without accounting for itself.”  -Rainer Maria Rilke, written in a personal letter before his death, quoted in In Praise of Mortality

Piling and combining book forms, waxed photo transfers, 167-year-old remains of home restorations, clay constructions, and discarded printing artifacts, the variety of materials tells of a collection of knowledge through time. Finding that existence has a tenuous agreement with nonexistence, I wonder how we pass through this life, this blink of an eye? Are the sacred and profane or the archaic and present moments really that different from one another? Materials can convey truths we can learn through observing and questioning if we ourselves are open— open to play, open to change, open to failure, open to embracing unknowns.

Quoting a lifelong friend of Rilke’s, the ‘Open' refers to “the phenomenal world uncontaminated by our ideas about it. Beholding it requires a non-dualistic consciousness, a mind that does not objectify reality with concepts and comparisons” (Rilke, Barrows, & Macy, 2016, p. 139). Though Movement Toward the Open relies on comparisons, the combinations are an effort to untie inclinations to opposing descriptions of our surroundings, beliefs, and histories and unite many of these seemingly distant concepts.

Allowing the activities of my inner world to surface, it is with the inspiration and support of my husband and daughter that this body of continued growth and exploration came to be. Organization, photographs, and writings by Matt Erickson; constructions and assistance by Ava Erickson.

Title and Material List with Citations:

Untitled (guides)

Glazed red earthenware, string, and kitchen wood beam from artist’s home renovation, 2020.

Construct 1 with gold

Waxed photo transfers on removed bedroom wall panel, discarded typesetting wood spacer, lapidary stones, glazed red earthenware, gold leaf paper, wooden board from artist’s home renovation, purchased metal brackets, found stool, over-beaten abaca paper sheet, and pleated pages from book by Flavius Josephus, 2019 - 2021.

Aquifer

Wood monotype and etching on Kitakata paper, 2014.

Construct 2 with fossil

Waxed photo transfers on removed bedroom wall panel; waxed red earthenware duck and chicken eggs; red iron oxide stain on red earthenware; purchased Orthoceras fossil egg from Dinosaur Park in Rapid City, SD; and removed kitchen shelf with brackets; 2019 - 2021.

Construct 3 with chime

Waxed photo transfers on removed bedroom wall panel, discarded typesetting wood spacers, waxed string, copper, sliced wood knots with brass type, discarded printing artifact, cut stones, and rock and shells from the Illinois River, 2019 - 2021.

Piling (continued alterations of the castle)

Framed 35mm photograph digitally printed, purchased blocks constructed and reconstructed by Ava, discarded type-high carving block, Balinese fabric, and found wooden box, 2021.

Construct 4 with hand

Waxed photo transfers on removed bedroom wall panel; relief printed cut-out; red earthenware with black iron oxide, red iron oxide, and yellow ochre stains; lapidary stone marked for cutting; pine with antler sheds; and wooden board from artist’s home renovation, 2019 - 2021.

Book Form 1 (treading water)

Hand-set type printed on Mulberry paper, over-beaten abaca paper sheet, found papers, and glazed red earthenware, 2021.

Construct 5 with incense

Waxed photo transfers on removed bedroom wall panel, red earthenware with red iron oxide stain, incense cones, removed cement retaining wall with Thoroseal, wood beam removed from artist’s home renovation, cut stone, purchased children’s building blocks, antler shed, removed Bible holder, downed tree branches with wintered iris leaves, Mom’s Orchard honeycomb, and monotype on Kitakata paper, 2019 - 2021.

Are We Saying the Same Thing?

Monytpe and photo transfer on Kitakata paper mounted to BFK Rives paper, 2019.

Construct 6 with repatriated Blue Bird feathers

Waxed photo transfers on removed bedroom wall panel, dried root with black tourmaline, found vase, cut and shaved hair, string, removed floor frame, stencil of BFK Rives paper, wood from artist’s home renovation, marble, bench Bible holder, 2019-2021.

Construct 7 with popcorn

Waxed photo transfers on removed bedroom wall panel, notebook, red earthenware with terra sigillata and glaze, unpopped popcorn seeds, removed base board, and discarded typesetting spacer, 2019 - 2021.

Duo with patterns

Photo transfers Kitakata paper, pleated pages from book by Flavius Josephus, string, and discarded typesetting wood spacer, 2019 - 2021.

Book Form 2 (aqueduct)

Wood beam from artist’s home renovation, purchased building blocks, broken brick, glazed red earthenware, discarded book cloth, woodcut on Kitakata, and magnets, 2021.

Stacking (map to Grandma’s house)

Drywall cut-outs, MDF board, and graphite, 2021.

Book Form 3 (tree)

Framed 35mm photographs digitally printed, treated wood from removed deck rail, glazed red earthenware, wood removed from kitchen floor, and Green Carnival Antique Cover paper, 2020 - 2021.

Construct 8 with Book Form 4 and Book Form 5

Photo transfers on Kitakata paper, discarded typesetting wood spacer, salvaged metal pole, discarded title page proof, Wood beam from artist’s home renovation, notebook, woodcut and serigraphy on Kitakata paper, glazed and stained red earthenware, lapidary stones, removed kitchen shelf with metal brackets, wire, Purple Heart wood scrap, Funk’s Grove leaves, folded over-beaten abaca paper with embedded woodcuts, purchased building blocks, and antler, 2019 - 2021.

Construct 9 with shingles

Discarded wood drawer, discarded lapidary stones, pine, discarded wood and metal forms, string, spring, notebook, removed floor frame, vitrolite tile, slate, black iron stained red earthenware, 2021.

If We Could Set Differences Aside.

Monytpe, photo transfer, and graphite on Kitakata paper mounted to BFK Rives paper, 2019.

Collection of Brian Flight.

Book Form 6 (tsunami)

Discarded book cloth, various folded paper, waxed string, cut stone, red iron oxide stain on red earthenware, 2020-2021.

Untitled & Untitled

Waxed photo transfers on removed bedroom wall panel, discarded typesetting wood spacers, 2019 - 2021.

Construct 10 and Book Form 7

Waxed photo transfers on removed bedroom wall panel, wood beam from artist’s home renovation, insulators, cut and shaped stones, 60 unknown paper book signatures, discarded stack of satin binding strips, and waxed thread, 2019 - 2021.

Construct 11 with ends

Photo transfer on Kitakata paper, pleated pages from book by Flavius Josephus, lapidary stones, red earthenware, discarded end sheets, notebook, and wood beam from artist’s home renovation, 2019 - 2021.

Construct 12 with cut nails

Waxed photo transfers on removed bedroom wall panel, red iron oxide stain on red earthenware, notebook, and wood beam sections from artist’s home renovation, 2019 - 2021.

More of the same

Monotype and photo transfer on Kitakata paper, 2019.

Less is

Monotype and photo transfer on Kitakata paper, 2019.

Trio

35mm photographs digitally printed, 2020.

Construct 13 and Book Form 8

Waxed photo transfers on removed bedroom wall panel, discarded typesetting wood spacers, stained and glazed red earthenware, discarded book cloth, various papers, thread, wood beam cut-off, and removed kitchen shelf with metal brackets, 2019 - 2021.

Construct 14 with sound

Waxed photo transfers on removed bedroom wall panel, discarded typesetting wood spacers, pleated pages from book by Flavius Josephus, wood beam sections from artist’s home renovation, 2019 - 2021.

Structure 1, 2, 3, and 4

Glazed and stained red earthenware, over-beaten abaca paper, marble, tree bark, removed wood floor, and copper shavings, 2020 - 2021.

Book Form 9

Wood beam from artist’s home renovation, purchased building blocks, discarded lead type, fossil, marble, discarded book cloth, string, Green Carnival Antique Cover paper, and woodcut and serigraphy on Kitakata paper, 2021.

Untitled

Waxed photo transfers on removed bedroom wall panel, 2019 - 2021.

Partial Research Citation page 2019-2021

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Brown, Brian. The wisdom of the Hindus; the wisdom of the Vedic hymns, the Upanishads, the Maha bharata and Ramayana. New York: Brentano’s, 1921. 

Bell, Catherine M. Ritual Theory, Ritual Practice. Oxford University Press, 2009. 

Bennett, Jane. Vibrant matter : a political ecology of things. Duke University Press, 2010.

Campbell, Joseph, and M. J. Abadie. The Mythic Image. Princeton, N.J: Princeton University Press, 1981. 

De Botton, Alain. How Proust Can Change Your Life. 1st Vintage international ed. New York: Vintage International, 1998. 

De Botton, Alain. Religion for Atheists : a Non-Believer’s Guide to the Uses of Religion. Camberwell, Vic: Hamish Hamilton, 2012. 

Grinshpon, Yohanan. Crisis and Knowledge : the Upanishadic Experience and Storytelling. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2003. 

Hartigan, Lynda Roscoe. Joseph Cornell : Shadowplay, Eterniday. New York, N.Y: Thames & Hudson, 2003.

Henshall, Audrey S., and J. N. G. Ritchie. The Chambered Cairns of the Central Highlands : an Inventory of the Structures and Their Contents. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2001. 

Ibn Faḍlān, Aḥmad. Ibn Fadlān and the Land of Darkness : Arab Travellers in the Far North. London: Penguin Books, 2012. 

Joshi, R. C. Rebirth, an Analysis of the Hindu Philosophy of Rebirth. New Delhi: Metropolitan, 1988. 

Kaul, Adam R., and Jonathan Skinner. Leisure and Death : an Anthropological Tour of Risk, Death, and Dying. Louisville, Colorado: University Press of Colorado, 2018. 

Kuznetsova, Irina; Jonardon, Ganeri; and Chakravarthi, Ram-Prasad. Hindu and Buddhist Ideas in Dialogue : Self and No-Self. Farnham: Ashgate Publishers, 2012. 

Kyriakidis, Evangelos. The Archaeology of Ritual. Los Angeles: Cotsen Institute of Archaeology, University of California, Los Angeles, 2007. 

Lansing, John Stephen. The Balinese. Fort Worth, TX: Harcourt Brace College Publishers, 1995. 

Lansing, John Stephen. The Three Worlds of Bali. New York, NY: Praeger, 1983.

Nylén, Anna-Maja. Swedish Handcraft. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1977. 

Oliver, Mary. Blue Horses : Poems. New York: Penguin, 2014. 

Rilke, Rainer. Maria, Barrows, A., Macy, J., In Praise of Mortality : Selections from Rilke’s Duino Elegies and Sonnets to Orpheus. New York: Riverhead Books, 2005. 

Scarre, Christopher. Monuments and Landscape in Atlantic Europe : Perception and Society During the Neolithic and Early Bronze Age. London; Routledge, 2002.