William and Anna Jane Schlossman Gallery
This is Not a Still Life explores the multiple dimensions of Moorhead (MN)-based artist Mike Marth’s artwork and its remarkable evolution. Exhibiting a mastery of materials, Marth’s work is often formal in nature, emphasizing its inherent qualities of form, style, symbolism, and texture. In 2000 Plains Art Museum exhibited a solo exhibition of Marth’s work titled A Decade of Still Life featuring his early work. This work consisted of painterly and sculptural pieces deconstructing the tradition of still life painting. Since then, Marth’s work has progressed in a variety of directions – often transforming industrial and organic material into surprising inventions and wide-ranging forms.
A tireless and prolific creator, Marth made the Fargo-Moorhead community his home in 1996. Marth has taught classes at Concordia, MSUM, and NDSU. Mike Marth received his BFA in Printmaking at Northwest Missouri State University, and his MFA in Painting from Southern Illinois State University at Carbondale in 1991. His work has been exhibited throughout the nation and is included in many public, corporate, and private collections including The Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis; North Dakota Museum of Art, Grand Forks; Microsoft; Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Dakota; Southern Illinois State University; Plains Art Museum, Fargo; Rourke Art Museum, Moorhead; and Hotel Donaldson, Fargo. An exhibition catalog accompanies the exhibition thanks to support from Forum Communications Company.
Mike Marth: Conversation with the Artist
Thursday, June 21, 6:30 – 7:30 PM
To say that right now is the ideal time to make art that speaks directly to the people about social justice is an understatement. Because the very nature of art is to undertake or assume the role of a healer by shading light on the human condition.
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Community artist and school art teacher MeLissa Kossick, who guides youth classes at the Museum on art, gardens, and pollinators, has created an enchanting mosaic design in the Creativity Pathway in the Serkland Gallery called Bee in Flight.
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The S.P.A.C.E. (Sculpture Pad Art Collaborative Experiment) project is a public art initiative undertaken collaboratively between Plains Art Museum, and the college art departments at North Dakota State University, Minnesota State University Moorhead, and Concordia College.
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Drawing on his childhood memories of the Great Plains, he created a work that speaks to the wide open spaces, huge vistas, and ocean-like skies of the region.
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While the Tallgrass Prairie is a community made up of a great diversity of species, Fragile Preservation represents a selection of them.
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