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Mother Trees Body of Work A/W 2018 Sense of Self S/S 2018 Sense of Place A/W 2017 Debut Collection The Collective Paintings
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After a number of years, Gray Matter Series is back with our next installation: Mother Trees, asking the question: Can a work of art inspire a dinner party which inspires even more works of art?

Mother trees are the trees in the forest who share their wisdom and guidance with other trees through the mycorrhizal network below ground, speaking through the connections made through the fungi’s relationship to the trees’ root systems.

We are each mother trees. We share our experiences through our creative expressions; painting, cooking for one another, telling stories, sharing music, and more. Our presence in our communities has more impact than we may first realize, but when we connect and share of our deepest selves, everyone benefits.

Join us at the Arthouse Gallery, a space for collaborative exploration and the studio of Ms. Anna Lee and learn more about the creative endeavors taking place. Immerse yourself in the Mother Trees exhibit and connect with the collaborators.

Saturday and Sunday, October 1+2 2022 as part of the FMVA Studio Crawl at 517 6th Street South in Moorhead, MN

Artist and Producer Anna Lee

Illustrator and Muralist Chris Larson

Chef Candace Stock

Photographer Sarah Faith Strong

Artist and Fungi Enthusiast Nancy XiáoRong Valentine

Poet and Fungi Enthusiast Julie Larson

Artist and Hairstylist Kelsy Osterman

ABOUT Gray Matter Series

 

I am a milliner, painter, and fashion designer with additional background in nonprofit management, product development, event production, and the healing arts. And through all of this, one of the most significant artforms in my career is that of collaboration.

Everything I do is a vehicle for collaboration, sharing new ideas, and building community.

The Gray Matter Series began as an idea in the summer of 2016. I was in Australia for a millinery conference. This was the same week as the Philando Castile shooting, and I watched from the other side of the planet as the polarity unfolded. “How can this be? Is it not clear? Are we destined to see everything in black and white?” I asked myself as I worked the grey felt in my class that day.

One year later, that grey headdress I started in Australia quietly launched the Gray Matter Series at the 58th Annual Midwestern at the Rourke Art Museum.

The Gray Matter Series officially launched with the Fall 2017 collection of gray hats and colorful abstract paintings, and has grown to an ongoing series of collections over the years.

I continue to be moved by the polarization we experience in our world and seek new platforms for encouraging thoughtful discourse and finding the “middle ground” between the extremes. It has now evolved into an ongoing set of collaborations between creative souls that I bring together each season.

 

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ARTIST STATEMENT

The Gray Matter Series is about finding the middle ground between the polarization within ourselves (and our greater communities) through expression of sometimes conflicting concepts and emotions. Through these collaborations, we find beauty in the complexities of the modern human experience and peace in knowing we are not alone.