Ice Dreams

Compelling Ground: Landscapes, Peoples and Environments of Iowa (January 25 – July 23, 2021)

Brunnier Art Museum, Iowa State University.

The works explore significant changes to the land and agriculture in the 25 years since Land of the Fragile Giants: Landscapes, Environments, and Peoples was showcased. Adrienne Gennett, Associate Curator of Exhibitions and Education, University Museums, organized the exhibition.

The two pieces (Red Dreams & Blue Dreams) in this exhibit are part of a quartet, each having a statement in Braille related to the melting ice on our planet.

Red Dream states: Without the ice, the Earth will fall: Emma Thompson.

Blue Dream reads: If you are skating over thin ice, you might as well dance: Anita Shreve.

*2020, Ice Dreams: Red Dream, ( 71” x 39” x 39” ) - Ceramic, Wood, Ice, Unfired Clay, and Sheet Metal*

As ice placed into each form melts, it reconfigures the ‘ground’ below. Inspired in part by catastrophic floods in western Iowa in Spring 2020, this project considers the impact of global climate change and how this is altering the physical world we know.

The scale of this change reminds me that we are part of a large, complex web and are participants in and witnesses to profoundly significant events.

Underneath Everything: Humility and Grandeur in Contemporary Ceramics - ( June 3 – September 10, 2023 ), Curated by Mia Laufer

Ice Dreams: Grey Dream

As ice placed in the form melts, it reconfigures the unfired clay forming the ‘ground’ below. Inspired in part by catastrophic floods in western Iowa in Spring 2019 and 2020, this project considers the impact of global climate change and how that is altering the physical world we inhabit.

The scale of this change reminds me that we are part of a large, complex web and are participants in and witnesses to profoundly significant events.

The Braille text reads: It’s so hot; there is not enough winter. Animals are confused. Ice is melting—Joy Harjo, author.