|
|
2005
Magazine Feature By Marjorie Mikasen: Proprio, acrylic on canvas, 42" x
42", 2002 New Kouros, acrylic on canvas, 52" x
48", 2003 Rasa 3, acrylic on canvas, 16" x
32", 2000 "Ask anyone to list the characteristics of the typical
artist and you're likely to get descriptors like: free-spirited, spontaneous,
daydreamer, and disinterested in schedules, orderliness, business or details. Such right-brained
characters probably belong in the category of great American myths; or, if
they do exist, would not be likely to achieve much career success. One thing is for certain:
the left side of Marjorie Mikasen's brain functions extraordinarily well. She spends every day in
her perfectly ordered, light-filled studio, producing crisp, colorful,
geometric paintings that delve into worlds of science, geometry, mythology,
philosophy, psychology and literature. The artist with the crisp,
wedge haircut, with the tangerine sweater paired with tailored slacks, seems
perfectly fitted to the studio.
She talks about her work and her life with an air of gentle
confidence, punctuated by easy laughs. 'I read a lot of science
that opens areas of inquiry for me,' says Mikasen. 'How does a signal get from the brain to become an
action? The piece I'm working on
now has dendritical forms, because that's what we know causes these signals.' The paintings in this
Action Potential Series are, like all her works, geometric abstractions based
on nature. Other series include
side-by-side images, Stereopairs, that explore viewers' perceptions, and the
Liminal Series, which surveys the threshold state of human existence. 'The human body has a
continual presence in my work,' she says. 'The figural element is not descriptive of an individual
person or gender, but as a repertoire of shapes and forms, motions and
postures. I want to put humanity
back into abstraction. The
abstract derives from the mind, and the mind is surely a part of the
body. It seems to me once you
invoke the body, then you con start tackling the spatial.' So many ideas swirl
through Mikasen's mind that she is never at a loss for her next painting. 'I have stacks of sketches
I would like to turn into paintings,' she says. 'I do lots of designing ahead of time -- hours and hours.' Some sketches begin with
specific ideas and others, with a doodle. They're all done by computer, a tool the 46-year-old
artist has used since the 1980's.
Her father-in-law was a proponent of computers, she says, and of using
them in every way possible. 'I thought using a
computer to make art was terrible,' she says, 'but as soon as we got one, I
started learning how to draw on it.
I didn't talk about it much.
In fact, I thought it was practically shameful, but I learned how to
evolve with it. This was
something I didn't learn in art school.
Nobody had computers at that time. I had no idea I was doing something that was
groundbreaking. I still feel
I've hardly scratched the surface.' Mikasen says she has never
felt the computer limited her spontaneity or flexibility. In fact, she says it compelled her to
manipulate the image even more. 'Watercolor couldn't allow
me to change things,' says Mikasen.
'The computer lets me make as many changes as I want. It allows me to get perfectly
straight lines.' Mikasen begins her
paintings by taping her small color printout to a corner of her primed
canvas, then blocking in shapes of color. She develops the paintings through a multitude of
conscious decisions. Sometimes
her color scheme is worked out beforehand. At other times, she decides as she goes. How closely the painting follows the
sketch varies, since each decision changes the options that follow. 'I find a tremendous
freedom in the format,' she says.
'I spend a lot of time looking and considering. I work in a real problem-solving
way. The best analogy of the way
I paint might be a chess game.
Every move is deliberate.' And has she always been
interested in science and technology? Mikasen laughs. 'Not really,' she says. That interest has grown
through the years she has been married to Mark Griep, a biochemist and
chemistry professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, she says. Mikasen's interests have rubbed off
on Griep, as well. He
periodically teaches a seminar on the color red, a class that offers students
an opportunity to look at red from numerous scientific and psychological
angles. 'I did a little exercise
with his students,' says Mikasen.
'I gave each one a sheet of black or white paper, then allowed them to
choose three colored shapes -- circles, triangles or squares -- to apply to
the paper to depict either joy or fear.
They really got into it.
Some were pretty good.
There are limitless possibilities for something like that.' The psychology of color is
a constant presence in the south Lincoln, Craftsman-style bungalow Mikasen
and Griep share. Baseboards
painted in cheery, primary and secondary hues underscore walls of bright
white, punctuated by vibrant door and window casings. Mikasen's finely tuned sense of
design has helped her to successfully combine sleek modern furnishings with
antiques and casual bent-wood pieces to make a charming, inviting home. She loves setting her glass-topped
table with Red Willow china, so guests can enjoy a cup of coffee and
banana-nut bread. 'The house is visual
Prozac,' she says. 'There are
color combinations everywhere that stimulate me and make me want to keep
doing my own work.' Not only does Mikasen
maintain a demanding schedule of research, creative exploration and the
painstaking straightedge painting, but she also works hard at keeping her
career on track. She has served
as president of the Nebraska Women's Caucus for Art. While she enjoys involvement with
Lincoln's art community, she says she is careful with her time and judicious
about selecting competitive exhibitions and gallery representation. Mikasen is represented
locally by Modern Arts Midwest, located above The Mill in Lincoln's Historic
Haymarket District. Recent exhibitions have included
an invitational show of works by alumni of the University of Minnesota and an
exhibition organized by the Tweed Museum of Art in Duluth that has traveled
to the Stedman Art Gallery at Rutgers and University Museum at the University
of Richmond. A career highlight came
last month, when Mikasen's work was included in the 12-artist exhibition,
Engaging the Structural, at Broadway Gallery in New York. The gallery occupies an unusual place
in the art world. Its mission is
to bring artists and writers together to spur critical dialog. The show was organized by artist,
psychologist and curator, Julie Karabenick of Ann Arbor, Mich. Lilly Wei, a New York critic, wrote
an essay on Engaging the Structural that appeared in NY Arts, a popular
online magazine. 'It was great to get into
this show because they contacted me,' says Mikasen. 'I didn't have to submit portfolios or any of the things
you normally have to do. They
even sent a truck to wrap and transport my painting -- and they'll bring it
back. Julie had seen my work
online and we started corresponding.
We think about a lot of the same issues.' It isn't always that easy,
Mikasen says. Her 10-year
association with Gallery on the Rim and YLEM, an international organization
of artists who work with science and technology, had a more challenging
beginning. On a trip to San Francisco
in 1995, Mikasen took her work to several galleries in search of
representation. 'I had my share of hard
knocks,' she says, 'but finally I went to Gallery on the Rim and was told
that my work might be well-suited for an exhibition the gallery was
planning.' Her work was included in
the show with several YLEM artists.
Mikasen attended the opening and has continued to participate in the
organization. She says YLEM -- a
Greek term that makes reference to the mass from which the universe emerged
-- has provided a resource for exhibiting and for establishing contact with
other artists whose interests lie at the intersection of art and science. While the road has, at
times, been rocky, Mikasen says she can't imagine any better way of
life. She recently discovered
through genealogical research that her great, great, great grandfather was
also an artist -- a musician who played the piano and violin, sang and
composed. He was bandmaster of
the 71st Highland Light Infantry, which was sent to Montreal in
the 1830's to quell revolution.
There, the aid of two patrons allowed him to begin teaching, composing
and performing. 'His story was
tremendously inspiring to me,' says Mikasen. 'How could he do all those things? In many ways, he was like artists
today, trying to wend their ways.
We're not in sync with society.
We can't operate like a factory.' " |