Exhibit Notes

Alis Olsen is a sculptor who works with natural materials in order to explore issues concerning our culture and its relationship with nature. She often combines these materials with manufactured objects to illustrate how we have become separated from the earth. As a society, we tend to idealize the wilderness, and yet exploit its resources for our own uses without regard to the possibility of depleting the supply. Her artwork serves to illuminate these attitudes as well as to reconnect us with the beauty of the earth by honoring some part of it that might go unnoticed. On another level, her work always explores our attempts to find greater meaning in life.