As I’ve often said, we are so very fortunate to have in our mists an art center that enriches our lives with theater, song and visual arts, from the one and only Marion Art Center.
The Nor’Easta couldn’t stop us from traveling down Route 6 to take in the newest art installation that opened on October 13, featuring the creative pursuits of Nanci Worthington and Margaret Bruzelius.
Both artists draw inspiration from the natural world and have presented visitors with examples of just how magnificent imagination and skill can be.
Worthington has spent decades drawing butterflies as well as flora and fauna that surrounds her Berkshire home. She is a practitioner of nature journaling, a process by which one becomes an intentional observer of the natural world, from the minuscule seeds spread by animals to the towering white pines and oaks that are shade canopies, from the fungi to the insects and birds. Everything captured by the eye becomes a page in such journals.
As an artist who has provided nature illustrations for Audubon publications, Worthington butterflies, now on exhibit, also demonstrate her amazing ability to capture not only the spirit of animals but bring them realistically to life, animals that could easily lift themselves from the page.
I asked how she achieved such velvety quality to the butterfly wings created from pencil. She explained that many of the butterflies were intended to be painted in watercolor. Technical aspects of managing watercolors changed her mission to employing color pencils, applied meticulously, layer upon layer, until a near-3D quality emerges.
After taking in Worthington’s art, for you really must, you may find yourself nature journaling in your own backyard.
Margaret Bruzelius’ works employ a variety of skills. First and foremost, the inspiration and imagination needed to take woolen materials and through a labor-intensive process turn them into felt.
Bruzelius said that by taking old woolen articles of clothing she “up-cycles” them. She cuts the soon-to-be-woven items into strips, washes and prepares the textiles for the next phase of their rebirth, as a hooked rug, or wall-hanging. Her use of one of nature’s most hard-working products, wool, connects this artist to a centuries old craft.
Bruzelius previously worked in the fashion business as a designer for handknits for magazines such as Vogue Knitting and McCall’s Craft and Needlework.
After shifting her career direction, Bruzelius earned a PhD in comparative literature from Yale University and proceeded to teach in literature programs at Harvard University and Smith College. For the last several years she has dedicated her time to the art of hooking.
She claims to be retired, but methinks that is just another way of letting the world know she’s focusing on what brings her joy, taking a piece of woven fabric and turning it into a textural work of art.
On Saturday, November 1, between 11:00 am and 1:00 pm, Worthington and Bruzelius will hold an Artist’s Presentation at the art center.
Marion Art Center
By Marilou Newell