Artist Brett Lysne
Former Artist-in-Residence
December 1 – 31, 2021
Gallery Open to All
All are invited to the New York Mills Regional Cultural Center Gallery during the month of December 2021 to see artwork by Brett Lysne. The Gallery is always free to see and open to all. Gallery Hours are:
- Wednesdays 10:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m.
- Thursdays 10:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m.
- Fridays 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
- Saturdays 10:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.
- Closed Sundays/Mondays/Tuesdays
The gallery show includes two bodies of work, “Notes from New York Mills,” created during Lysne’s artist residency here at the Cultural Center’s Arts Retreat in 2014, and “North Dakota State Maps,” created between 2012-2014.
Artist Bio:
Brett Lysne is a visual artist who works in drawing, printmaking, artist books, and digital media. Raised in Crookston, MN, he attended the University of Minnesota, Morris, received a master of fine arts degree from Washington State University, and currently teaches printmaking and drawing at Minnesota State University Moorhead. Brett has participated in artist residency programs in Minnesota, Washington, Vermont, Finland, and North Dakota. For two months in the winter of 2014, Brett was an artist-in-residence in New York Mills.
“Notes from New York Mills” Artist Statement:
Notes from New York Mills is a series of ephemeral mixed media drawings layered on white ink screenprinted on tan paper.
During my two months as a resident of New York Mills, I researched local history and geography, took notes of conversations I had with locals over card games or coffee, studied maps of the region, and made sketches based on the array of community gatherings I attended.
As I produced these notes and sketches, I chose the most striking stories and images and recreated them in a series of finished drawings. On one level, these works, which carry a quiet humor, reflect the idiosyncrasies of Scandinavian-American culture in rural Minnesota. On a secondary level, the drawings present the viewer with the illusion inherent to all forms of visual representation, with added absurdity resulting from the multi-step technical process of drawing pieces of paper.
“North Dakota State Maps” Artist Statement:
The North Dakota State Maps drawing series began as a reconsideration of familiar territory.
The first images in the series, completed in the summer of 2012, combined pen, graphite, and other drawing materials on paper to create fields of linked text in the shape of a state I longed to return to, North Dakota.
After becoming an artist-in-residence at North Dakota State University in Fargo in the winter of 2013-2014, I continued the drawings, now with the addition of screenprinting to provide a base of solid color to draw and write upon. Working within the confines of this rigid, rectangular shape, meandering thoughts and lists of terminology serve to reconstruct notions of North Dakotan culture. Representational images drawn into these maplike compositions refer to regional geography, history, and shared memory.
Call 218-385-3339 or email info@kulcher.org with any questions or to schedule a private gallery viewing.
