Artwork by Heidi Jeub & Lisa Truax • Now thru October 29, 2018

Natural Synthetics, artwork by Heidi Jeub and Lisa Truax, is showing at Gallery 120 in the Fine Arts building on the campus of Inver Hills Community College now through Monday, October 29, 2018.

To learn more about Heidi and Lisa’s work visit:

Heidi Jeub

Lisa S. Truax

Natural Synthetics

Artwork by Heidi Jeub & Lisa Truax

Now through Monday, October 29, 2018

Gallery 120

Fine Arts Building
Inver Hills Community College
2500 80th Street East
Inver Grove Heights, MN 55076
General: 651-450-3000
Gallery: 651-450-3101

Natural Synthetics at Galley 120

Natural Synthetics

Heidi Jeub, Painter & Community Artist

Artist Statement

The development of systems are often times inspired by the natural world, but within the hands of humankind, the molding of those systems evolve. Synthetics, like acrylic paint, can formulaically impact the environment, whether it be with ill or good intentions. The impact stays for long periods, and often times affects the environment surrounding it.
In Nexus, an exploration of the systems of industry and power, the grid-like objects on the
canvas represent the control of entities, affecting our understanding of what freedom can entail. Often times, when we struggle with abstract ideas in society, like systematic racism, for instance, the focus is not often given to the parameters of the focus (the Nexus). This specific series, in most cases, bring the viewer to the objects of colorful exchange.
Yet, there is an intentionality of the application of white paint—heavy, finger-dragged, and slowly pushing of the objects we are focused on as the audience. Like HVAC pipes, found in a building like this one, the energy, heat, and coolness is directed with precise intentionality. Toxic air is removed to make us comfortable. Modern technology is often times appreciated, yet, when it’s reversed it can destroy because of the control.
This work is a visual representation of such systems. It could be applied to any aspect of our discourse in politics, social justice, spirituality or ourselves. It is meant to prompt questions of the larger system, not just about our own selves within that system.

nexus |ˈneksəs|

noun (pl. same or nexuses)

• a connection or series of connections linking two or more things: the nexus between
  industry and political power.
• a connected group or series: a nexus of ideas.
  the central and most important point or place: the nexus of all
  this activity was the disco.

Natural Synthetics

Lisa Truax, Ceramic Sculptor

Artist Statement

We think of nature as untouched and wild, and not something controlled or created by humans. Through my work I attempt to create a sense of connection to nature in the viewer, and draw questions about our use of natural materials and landscapes, utilizing materials collected in specific places along with topographical mapping, drawing connection to place and experience.
Materials and process are important conceptual factors, as I combine traditional ceramic materials with found and sourced natural materials such as granite, clay, and sand mixed with collected refuse such as glass, metal, and waste glaze. These elements are changed through melting, flowing, and fusing together in the firing process to a different chemical state, mimicking the processes of the earth does over millennia and utilizing a sense of artifice, to visually represent abstractions of land, caves, and bodies of water, as well as simple life forms such as bacteria that may live in them.
Remnants of human past can become a visible or invisible part through this process, drawing questions about nature as a built environment. In the work created for Natural Synthetics, I have compartmentalized memories of nature into created systems, using circular and oval ceramic forms. Materials gathered from specific places are used along with porcelain topographical maps of these locations. Colors, glazes, and textures are chosen to reference memories of these places.
What places are important to us as a culture, or to an individual? Does it matter if a place has beauty, or if we have chosen to preserve it? What about places that are important to animals, insects, and plants? I seek to have the viewer ask questions about their own interaction with and use of the environment and landscape.

For more information about Natural Synthetics at Gallery 120, contact:

Joel Starkey
Gallery Curator and Coordinator
651-450-3101