Nathalie Miebach Weaves Data and Anecdotes into Expansive Sculptures to Raise Awareness of the Climate Crisis

“Harvey’s Twitter SOS” (2019), paper, wood, vinyl, and data, 84 x 108 x 12 inches. All images © Nathalie Miebach, shared with permission

For Boston-based artist Nathalie Miebach, art is a way to translate scientific data into a visual language of patterns and relationships. In 2007, when she first began to make works that explored weather and climate change, she wanted to better understand the science. “Each piece began with a specific question I had and then the sculpture would attempt to answer it. Over time, I began to be more interested not in how weather instruments record weather, but how we as a species respond to it,” she tells Colossal. “That’s when I began to look at extreme weather events such as floods, storms, and fires.”

Basketweaving plays a central role in Miebach’s practice as it both physically and metaphorically weaves together materials and information. The type of data she collects is both statistical and anecdotal, combining scientific inquiry with personal experiences. “Harvey’s Twitter SOS,” for example, translates 2017 data maps about Hurricane Harvey published by The New York Times. “The inner quilt is made up of shapes that map out income distribution in Houston and uses the city’s highway system as a visual anchor. Various types of information related to Harvey are stitched onto the quilt, including Twitter messages that were sent out during the storm,” she says. Each piece contains numerous pathways, repetitions, and connections, redolent of Rube Goldberg machines in which cause and effect play a central role.

During the past three years, the artist’s work also collates Covid-19 data alongside climate information. “Spinning Towards a New Normal,” on view currently at Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, translates Covid-19 infection, death, and vaccination rates for Germany, Italy, and Spain into the form of a spinning top with a plumb bob, representing the struggle of communities and economies to find stability. “We are not invincible, and neither is this planet,” she warns. “For the first time in human history, we have all experienced how vulnerable we can be as a species. The recent work I have been doing is trying to look at these broader environmental changes we are now seeing through this lens of vulnerability.”

You can see Miebach’s work in All Hands On: Basketry at Staatliche Museen zu Berlin through May 25, 2023, and Climate Action, Inspiring Change at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts, through June 25, 2023. Explore more of her work on her website and follow updates on Instagram.

 

“Spinning Towards a New Normal” (2022), reed, wood, and data, 20 x 20 x 25 inches

Detail of “Harvey’s Twitter SOS”

Details of “Spinning Towards a New Normal”

“Changing Lines” (2022), paper, wood, and data, 120 x 96 x 10 inches

“She Cast Her Circles Wide” (2016), rope, paper, wood, and data, 25 x 25 x 27 inches

Detail of “Harvey’s Twitter SOS”

“The Blindness of Seeing Patterns” (2021), paper, wood, and weather and Covid-19 data, 84 x 60 x 6 inches

Details of “The Blindness of Seeing Patterns”

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Tau Lewis’s Monumental Textile Masks Envision a Mythical Post-Apocalyptic Transformation

“Saint Mozelle” (2022). All images © Tau Lewis, courtesy of the artist and 52 Walker, New York, shared with permission

Translating to “the voice of the people is the voice of god,” Vox Populi, Vox Dei is artist Tau Lewis’s reimagining of historic systems and principles. The Latin phrase is often associated with the British Whig party and the establishment of secular democracies throughout Europe, although Lewis hones in on the saying’s lingering religious reference as she envisions enormous characters who’ve emerged from an apocalypse.

Six sculptural masks populate the gallery at 52 Walker for the artist’s ongoing solo show, which explores what she describes as “the incapacity of humankind to create structures of law, principles of morality, or hierarchies of government without a reliance on the imaginary.” The monumental works, the largest of which stands upwards of 13 feet, meld classical myths, contemporary science fiction, and the dramatic performances associated with Yoruban masking traditions. Focused on the idea of transformation following destruction, the collection engenders a joyful, hopeful outlook.

Born in Toronto and now based in New York, Lewis’s world-building is unique and particularly expansive as it connects myriad bodies of work: each character within Vox Populi, Vox Dei contains fragments of the artist’s earlier projects, engendering what she terms a “material DNA” that courses throughout her oeuvre. In a similar vein, the sculptures pay homage to the legacies of the fabrics themselves. The artist stitches salvaged textile scraps, donated leather, and remnants from a Long Island furrier into patchwork eyes and lips, tousled hair-like fringe, and vibrant floral tendrils that dangle and pool on the floor. Otherworldly and imposing, the works are totems for an imagined future.

If you’re in New York, you can see Vox Populi, Vox Dei through January 7, 2023, and Lewis’s work is also included in Black Atlantic, which is up at Brooklyn Bridge Park through November 22. Explore more of her genealogical archive on her site and Instagram.

 

“Ivory Gate” (2022)

Detail of “Saint Mozelle” (2022)

“Trident” (2022)

Detail of “Ivory Gate” (2022)

“Mater Dei” (2022)

Installation view

“Homonia” (2022)

Installation view

“Resurrector” (2022)

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Color-Blocked Wall Hangings Stitch Graphic Design Principles into Quilts by Emily Van Hoff

All images © Emily Van Hoff, shared with permission

Emily Van Hoff merges her background in graphic design with the practical crafting skills she picked up as a child in her vibrant wall hangings. From her home studio in Chicago, Van Hoff pays homage to women crafters of generations past as she stitches geometric quilts in bold color palettes of bubblegum pink, lavender, and cobalt. Thick stripes, bisected circles, and clean rows of stitches comprise many of the curved pieces, which the artist describes as a translation of “my digital design into a beautiful tactile object.”

Van Hoff’s vivid works sell out quickly, so keep an eye on her site and Instagram for future shop updates.

 

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Metamorphosis and History Merge in Meticulously Carved Sculptures by Andreas Senoner

“Origins,” walnut and feathers. All images © Andreas Senoner, shared with permission

Seemingly transfixed in time during a mysterious process of transformation, Andreas Senoner’s mixed-media sculptures capture expressive details in human figures and gestures. “I focus my research on a series of main themes, including metamorphosis, heritage, and stratification,” he tells Colossal. The Florence-based artist explores layers of history by working with materials that are rich in cultural significance, incorporating textures like thorns or spikes, insect-bored timber, or saturated paint that induces tension.

Senoner carefully forms the contours of muscles and limbs in response to the natural grain of each piece of wood, and works can take several weeks to complete. “The essence of the wood also has a strong influence; a walnut sculpture, for example, takes twice as long as one made of lime wood,” he explains. Intricately detailed, life-like body parts sprout thorns, mimic a felled tree, or appear from beneath a cocoon-like cloak of organic material. Many reference figures from classical art history in another nod to the passing of time.

“Feathers have a very strong symbolism, and they are an integral part of rituals and celebrations in many cultures, where they represent lightness and freedom,” he tells Colossal. The feathers create layers, “like an intangible and delicate skin or shell that still is able to confine and shield the represented individual from the outside world.” Contrasting textures and associations of materials like ancient walnut, beeswax, or lichen parallels his interest in the dualities of interior and exterior experiences.

Senoner is currently working toward exhibitions in early 2023 in Italy and Belgium, and you can find more on his website and Instagram.

 

“Fear,” walnut

“Fragment,” walnut

“Mask (moulting),” walnut and feathers

“Nature doesn’t care,” ancient walnut

“Nature doesn’t care”

:eft: “Shapeshifter,” walnut and feathers. Right: Rear view of “Origins”

“Regrowth,” painted walnut

“Origins,” wood and lichen

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Mysterious Creatures Emerge from Recycled Materials in Sculptures by Spencer Hansen

“BADU” and “FINCH” in collaboration with Jason Siegel. All images © Spencer Hansen, shared with permission

Long-legged creatures don otherwordly masks in sculptures by Bali-based artist Spencer Hansen, whose work explores identity and connection through a cast of uncanny characters. Using primarily natural, found, and recycled materials like wood, metal, bone, plant fibers, and ceramic, he draws inspiration from surrounding environment and frequent travels. Originally from Idaho, he relocated to Bali where he built a workshop that houses studios and live-work space for a team of skilled artisans who help to bring the pieces to life.

Alongside business partner Shayne Maratea, with whom he founded independent clothing and art company BLAMO, Hansen often collaborates with artists and photographers to merge sculpture and performance. Intended to inspire curiosity and play, the characters are carved and assembled in a variety of scales, from toy-like figurines to life-size suits, with mysterious faces that resemble shamanic masks.

Hansen has a solo exhibition opening in December at Spencer Lynne Galleries in Dallas, and you can find more of his work on his website and Instagram.

 

“BOBA”

“Eternal Embrace” collaboration with Naomi Samara. Suit worn by Aleph Geddis. Hands: Naomi Samara, Chantal Ka, and Shayne Maratea

Left: “EQUUS.” Right: “Tikus”

Left: Head of “LELA.” Right: “M11 Topeng Barat”

“LELA”

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Delicate Crocheted Patterns Splice and Embellish Susanna Bauer’s Dried Leaf Sculptures

“Sum of the Parts” (2022), magnolia, oak, cottonwood, eucalyptus, plane tree, beech leaves, 38 x 34 centimeters. All images by Art Photographers, © Susanna Bauer, shared with permission

Vintage lace and the intricate innards of cells influence the thread components of Susanna Bauer’s crocheted works. The German artist, who lives in the U.K., stitches leaves she’s found, washed, and dried, a painstaking process made more laborious by the inherent fragility of the material. “Taking time beneath trees, gathering leaves, contemplating their shapes, imperfections, and details lies at the basis of my process. Along with this quiet gathering, stories form, dialogues between leaves emerge, reflections on time and change and interpersonal connections,” Bauer shares.

Many of the artist’s recent works are on view as part of her solo show Gathering Stories, which translates those conversations and themes into three-dimensional pieces. Similar to her earlier series, this new collection is diverse in species and crocheted patterns. In “Sum of Parts,” various segments from six different trees are spliced with natural cotton thread, while “Blossom” surrounds a single magnolia leaf with fibrous filigree.

Gathering Stories is on view through January 14, 2023, at Le Salon Vert in Carouge, Geneva. You can find more of her work on her site and Instagram.

 

“Emergence l” (2022), magnolia leaves, cotton thread, 50 x 50 x 5 centimeters

“Blossom” (2022), magnolia leaf, cotton thread, 30 x 30 centimeters

“Haven” (2022), magnolia leaves, cotton thread, 42 x 47 centimeters

“Time (Spring 22)” (2022), oak leaf cotton thread, 30 x 30 centimeters

“Sharing Dreams” (2022), magnolia leaves, cotton thread, 30 x 30 centimeters

“Emergence l” (2022), magnolia leaves, cotton thread, 50 x 50 x 5 centimeters

Top left: “Thrive lll” (2022), magnolia leaf, cotton thread, 30 x 22 centimeters. Top right: “Breathing lll” (2022), magnolia leaf, cotton thread, 38 x 28 centimeters. Bottom left: “Symmetry” (2022), magnolia leaf, cotton thread, 38 x 38 centimeters. Bottom right: “Calibration,” (2022), magnolia leaf, cotton thread, 52 x 42 inches

“Ginkgo Circle lll” (2022), ginkgo leaf, cotton thread, 21 x 17 centimeters

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