Reflections: the Collaborative Work of Scott Jensen and Courtney Lipson
An exhibit at Stonington Gallery in Seattle, WA, November 2 - December 3, 2017.
The video above is a documentation of one of the works in our exhibit. Scott has taken many expressive photographs of Southeast Alaska’s shoreline; often at times of low wind and no current, the reflection of land on water is perfectly mirrored. The symmetry of the landscape leads us to ponder the symmetry in the art forms that the First Peoples of the coast developed. In our life traveling the coastline we’ve found pieces of driftwood and rocks that are formline in nature. In the sense of fractals, we imagine the rocks along the shore expressing formline. This idea is one that Scott has wanted to express in a literal way in his art, so together we worked out a way to combine realism with the abstract.
An exhibit at Stonington Gallery in Seattle, WA, November 2 - December 3, 2017.
The video above is a documentation of one of the works in our exhibit. Scott has taken many expressive photographs of Southeast Alaska’s shoreline; often at times of low wind and no current, the reflection of land on water is perfectly mirrored. The symmetry of the landscape leads us to ponder the symmetry in the art forms that the First Peoples of the coast developed. In our life traveling the coastline we’ve found pieces of driftwood and rocks that are formline in nature. In the sense of fractals, we imagine the rocks along the shore expressing formline. This idea is one that Scott has wanted to express in a literal way in his art, so together we worked out a way to combine realism with the abstract.
Last year while in Hoonah, AK, friends took us on an evening hike through a beautiful forest, crossing streams to overlook a large open meadow with more trees in the background. All of a sudden we could hear a strange huffing sound which seemed amplified by the open spaces, and reflected back from the trees. We realized we were listening to whales breathing in the bay beyond the forest. That sensory memory, as well as other times gathering cedar bark, berries, and moss for dyeing, were present while painting this box.
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Information about us, written by Stonington Gallery:
"Scott Jensen is regarded by artists and collectors as a living master, and spent much of last year recreating a totem pole for an Alaska Native village whose original pole had succumbed to the elements. Now, he brings his formidable knowledge of indigenous oral tradition and history, and his technical prowess to a joint exhibition, creating the sculptural forms onto which Courtney inlays micro-mosaics. (His website is www.SpeakingCedar.com)
"Courtney Lipson is known primarily for micro-mosaic jewelry, a process involving smithing of frames in gold or silver, and the setting of tiny, individual glass seed beads in elaborate patterns. She has expanded that practice to include micro-mosaic “paintings” on panel, using beads of different sizes and textures to render a scene as if painting with the beads.
"In a dual ceremony in 2010, Courtney and Scott were married, given Tlingit names and adopted by Fred Saat kaa and Ivy Gunalshowaxeex Fulmer. Scott was adopted into the Chookaneidí Eagle, Brown Bear and Porpoise Clan and Courtney into the T’akdeintaan Raven, Frog and Black Legged Kittiwake clan."
