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MCC Daily Tribune Archive

Floating Scapes Opens Today at the Mercer Gallery


Collaborators since 1997, Marsha Ryskin and Margaret Kimura both work in mixed media and printmaking to explore ideas of history, layers, residue and rituals of everyday existence. Floating Scapes, their latest team effort, appears at the Monroe Community College Mercer Gallery, Friday, Jan. 30 – Friday, Feb. 27. 

Kimura uses prints and notes as well as her grandmother’s old patterns to create complexly layered mixed media pieces. While recycling and history are central to her collages, Kumura also deals with the ideas of floating and gravity. Ryskin’s purpose is to attract attention to commonly overlooked elements of the environment such as cracks, stains and bits of man-made objects. After isolating these elements, Ryskin uses them as a basis for landscape drawings and mixed media pieces. She also incorporates mundane materials such as tea bags, drier sheets and tissue paper.

Floating Scapes consists of mixed media prints and drawings installed on the floor and walls and suspended from the ceiling. The installation’s focus will be a floor piece involving fragmented printed and drawn elements that will reference a body of water. Smaller elements emulating mist will float above. Sound and shadow will play an important role in this installation which deals with the constant subtle changes of nature and provides a space for meditation and reflection.

Located in the north atrium of Building 12, MCC’s Mercer Gallery is open Mon. – Thurs., 10 a.m. – 7 p.m. and Fri., 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. A gallery talk will be held Friday, Jan. 30, 7 – 9 p.m. followed by an opening reception for the artists. The exhibition is free and open to the public.

Janet Ekis
Public Affairs
01/30/2004