"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, utilizing materials collected in specific places along with topographical mapping, drawing connection to place and experience. Natural places can have positive effects on our well being, many of which we may not yet understand, and the effects of created nature may have the same effects as the real."
Lisa S. Truax
Born in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin / Works in Pickwick, Minnesota
Lisa S. Truax was born and grew up in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. She attended college at Carthage College in Kenosha, Wisconsin and received degrees in studio art and graphic design. After working in design for five years, she returned to school and received her Master of Fine Arts in Ceramics from Michigan State University in 2009. She currently lives in Winona, Minnesota, teaches as an associate professor at Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota, and maintains a studio in Pickwick, Minnesota.
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, 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.
Natural places can have positive effects on our well being, many of which we may not yet understand, and the effects of created nature may have the same effects as the real. We often collect things such as stones and coral and bring them into our homes, reminding us of places we have visited and that have been important to us. I explore through my work the concept of Biophilia in the Anthropocene, how nature is an important factor for physical and mental health, and use my abstract ceramic sculpture to create a physical sense of memory, bringing colors and textures from places I have visited or live into the interior built space.
