PELLA — Artist Mary Koenen Clausen will hold an exhibition titled Soul Gathering, starting Wednesday, Nov. 4, through Friday, Dec. 11, in Central College’s Mills Gallery in the Lubbers Center for Visual Arts. An artist talk will take place Monday, Nov. 9, in Mills Gallery at 5:30 p.m.
Clausen’s mixed media collages are rich in texture and image. They are usually broken up into three areas: heaven, earth and underground. Figures composed of mismatched heads and bodies float among animals, icons, musical notes and foreign texts on backgrounds thickly painted with deep hues. Clausen sees the musical notes and foreign text, some of which she reproduces in her own hand, as visual elements rather than symbols or messages.
“Collage is a matter of refining design,” Clausen says of her process. “I sit with the pieces scattered around me and they come together. I always think in terms of layers. I don’t treat collage different from painting.”
Clausen lives in Tipton, Iowa, and has a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the University of Northern Iowa.
Gallery hours are Monday-Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. The exhibit and artist talk are free and open to the public.
