Jim Proctor: Botanical Fiction 2 May 1- June 6, 2010
With a reception for the artist Sat May 8, 2:00-5:00
Jim Proctor came initially to the question of nature as a painter seeking to represent the landscape. For more than a decade, he has worked as a sculptor, making art from the natural components of the landscape itself. Today, Proctor is recognized as an advocate for biodiversity and a public artist addressing the challenge of invasive species to the urban and rural landscape. He is best known for his early advocacy of buckthorn removal and for several large temporary public art installations featuring 5-20 foot tall dandelion-like structures made entirely of buckthorn, the invasive shrub. Proctor was recently named a Volunteer of the Year by the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board for his leadership in invasive species removal at Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden.
For his exhibition at Swan Song, the artists presents a series of diminutive sculptures made entirely from plant material—acorns, winged seeds, plant fibers, thorns and stems—all materials collected, deconstructed and recombined by the artist. Proctor’s impeccable re-construction yields biomorphic sculptures that appear to have grown of their own accord. Some he endows with elements suggesting hair, teeth or nails; emulating the future animal that the plant will sustain and the fundamental interdependency of flora and fauna.
To capture our audience, Proctor installs each tiny sculpture in a specially designed glass covered case, recalling the “cabinet of curiosities” made popular by collectors, biologists and artists of earlier centuries. Proctor’s intention is not to isolate or hold hostage exotic specimens, but to draw the viewer’s attention back to the beauty and synergy of the organic world.
He acknowledges nature as his primary source and guide: “I feel a real affinity for the materials that I work with. Most of what I know about sculpture comes through my study of plant form,” he says. “It is increasingly urgent that humans can identify with the other species on our planet” he concludes.
Ultimately, Proctor seeks to address our dislocation from nature. In this he is aligned with contemporary artists and scientists who advocate for a re-engagement with the aesthetic of the biosphere.
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Swan Song Contemporary Arts is an ecoarts gallery on the Mississippi flyway presenting special exhibitions of contemporary art related to our appreciation for and relationship to the planet Earth. Swan Song also features an ongoing array of works by artists of regional and national reputation, including Judy Onofrio, Jennifer davis, Wayne Potratz, Amy Rice, Jeremy Lund, Dale Vanden Houten, John Pearson, Amy Sabrina, Kelly Connole, among others. The gallery is founded and directed by artist Cynde Randall, who also serves as artistic director of the Minneapolis-based non-profit called Bird x Bird (www.birdxbird.org <http://www.birdxbird.org/> ), an artist collective devoted to the stewardship of avian species and the ecoliteracy of human beings. Swan Song Contemporary Arts is located on the Great River Road, the east side of Lake Pepin, in Maiden Rock, Wisconsin, just 1 hour southeast of the Twin Cities. Gallery hours are Friday thru Sunday from 10:00-5:00, May through January; and weekends during March and April. Swan Song’s special exhibits rotate every 5 weeks, from May through January. For more information call Swan Song gallery director Cynde Randall at (612) 250-9222 or email at cynderandall@centurytel.net
