9/11: MYSTERIES OF THE HOGBACK // new work by STELLA BROWN
MYSTERIES OF THE HOGBACK
new work by STELLA BROWN
Opening Reception: Friday, September 11, 6-9PM
Kitchen Space
2716 N. Monticello Ave, 1F
Chicago, IL
43°21’N 90°87’W, Hogback Prairie, 2014,
Spring water collected at source near Hogback Prairie, soil collected at Hogback Prairie, limestone collected near Hogback Prairie, acrylic
While attending the ACRE residency program last summer Stella Brown studied the nearby Hogback Prairie located slightly northwest of the town of Steuben, Wisconsin. The prairie sits on a high ridge that is characteristic of the unglaciated region of southwest Wisconsin known as the Driftless Area. Most of these ridges, too steep for farming or even grazing, have become overgrown with forests since Europeans populated the area and disrupted the natural processes. The Hogback Prairie consists of low grasses, flowers and shrubs and stands out among the other ridges as a special and mysterious place steeped in folklore. The local Winnebago Tribes, makers of the effigy mounds, are rumored to have created mounds surrounding this ridge. There are many caves in the area, and just before dawn as the fogs rise from the valleys puffs of steam can be seen seeping from caves on the Hogback Ridge.
Mysteries of the Hogback will present the research and collecting done by the artist while playing the naturalist on the prairie. The presentation will use the visual language of a natural history museum utilizing vitrines and natural history illustration with the goal of exploring the possibilities and difficulties of portraying a place’s botanical, biological, geological and historical realities using this form of display. How can one delve deeper to describe not just the physical characteristics of a place, but also its change, both natural and manmade, in order to acknowledge its present state?
—
STELLA BROWN is a native Chicago artist. She received a BA from the Gallatin School of Individualized Study at New York University in 2009 with a concentration in Collection and Display of the Cultural Object. Her installation and curatorial project Golden Spike: Rock Shop of the Anthropocene was recently presented at Comfort Station in Chicago’s Logan Square.
More information about STELLA BROWN can be found at http://stellajbrown.com
KITCHEN SPACE is an alternative space run by Traci Fowler and Trevor Schmutz in the kitchen of their Logan Square apartment. It’s primary focus is to encourage artists to make work that reacts with the space and/or engages in the physical or conceptual space that is “the kitchen.” Kitchen Space exhibits artists at all career stages and promotes community engagement and activity.