Published on 8/19/2018.
College of the Redwoods presents Forest by Pacific Northwest artist Ann Chadwick Reid, on display Aug 28 through Sep 20. This exhibition showcases large-scale and intricate cut paper works inspired by biodiversity and habitat challenges in the United States. There will be a public reception for this exhibition on Tuesday, Aug 28 from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m.
Forest guides viewers towards understanding the environmental impacts and accelerated change of the western U.S. with the detailed and delicate medium of cut paper. Using only an x-acto knife and thick black paper, Ann Chadwick Reid masterfully creates billowing plumes and swirling floods alongside delicate and precisely described leaves, insects, and varied invasive species. Reid’s ambitious and expansive works join forces in the gallery to create an immersive installation of cut paper. Each individual artwork coheres with the others, creating an exhibit filled with ecological details as Reid mingles images of nature's destructive forces alongside urban and natural growth, all while dynamically using both realistic and abstract forms.
This exhibition displays striking detail, texture and delicacy expertly captured through the two-dimensional paper artworks Reid creates. The artist states that her work is about where she lives, in a small community on Samish Island in Skagit County, Washington, wedged between the Cascade Mountains and the Salish Sea. This area supports a variety of industries, from farming and fishing to oil refining and fossil fuel transport. Where these industries exist, the surrounding landscape is stressed by human impact and is in need of protection. Reid explains that she creates “paper cuts as fragile as our environment to celebrate the special nature and remarkable diversity of this intertidal region and forest ecosystems of the Northwest.”
The Creative Arts Gallery at College of the Redwoods is located on the Eureka Main Campus, North Entrance and is open Monday through Thursday 12:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. and by appointment. Admission is free and open to the public. For more information, please visit redwoods.edu/artgallery or call the Art Department office at (707) 476-4559.