Unstable Patterns: An Interview with Artist Katherine Steichen Rosing

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Katherine Steichen Rosing’s solo exhibition at James May Gallery introduces us to her ecological sensibilities, scientific curiosity, and unlikely compassion for the creatures that spawn and buzz to life within the waters of our northern region. I met with Rosing one afternoon at the gallery shortly after she had finished installing the centerpiece sculpture—a lapis-blue column orbited by translucent fragments reaching from the gallery ceiling to the floor. Surrounding this installation are paintings that carry the thread of her concerns across two main bodies of work. We spoke about systems, patterns and the unpredictable world we’ve created in the existential era of climate change. 

Annie Raab: Tell me a little bit about how your interest in change and environments manifests in your work.

Katherine Rosing: Change and transformation have been an important concept in my work for decades. The images in this show are from two main bodies of work: “Water Shields and Damsel Flies” and “Atmospheric Rivers”. Forests and water have been the two parts of the environment I have focused on, and I’m focused everything from what lives in the water to how forests produce their own weather patterns. I’ve looked at water as a symbol of transformation and change that occurs over millennia, and I think of it as this earthly continuation that cycles through animals, people, bodies of water, and the atmosphere. The lines inscribed in the tree shapes reflect the conduit of water that travels from the roots to the branches, and when I subtract layers of paint back down to the orange background, scraping out these wiggling lines, those represent the larvae that spawn and survive in pools and rivers. They can live for years under water. 

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AR: Is that what inspired “Water Shields and Damsel Flies”?

KR: I’m really curious about holistic systems and ecosystem interdependency. I did a residency at Trout Lake a couple years ago, where I was first introduced to the damselfly. They are like the small, slender cousin of the dragonfly. And really beautiful! The ones I see most often are an iridescent blue-green and their wings are more translucent. During the residency, I learned about the damselfly life cycle on a hike with a visiting scientist. At one point she reached down into a stream and plucked out a little piece of debris and pointed down to what looked like a little scorpion—it was kind of arching and pointy—and said it was a damselfly nymph. I was thrilled! And once I saw this, I started to observe their life cycle elsewhere. I became really interested in how they function within the ecosystem, and their lifecycle is represented in various ways throughout the paintings.  

AR: How do you locate the scientific information you need to inform these works?

KR: I actually attended two residencies where artists were paired with scientists. One was UW-Madison Department of Limnology’s Trout Lake Research Station, and the other at St. Croix Watershed Research Station, sponsored by the Science Museum of Minnesota. During this time, I was really interested in trees, and through conversations with scientists, I came to understand trees as, like, giant straws. I had just finished a major body of work exploring the emerald ash borer beetle, an invasive species first detected in southeast Michigan that is decimating the black ash population. When they destroy the trees in an area, those big straws no longer control weather patterns or prevent extreme consequences, such as flooding. These and other trees, such as paper birch and balsam, are predicted not to survive in this area past the 21stcentury. It will have devastating consequences on the ecosystem.

AR: Do you paint outdoors?

KR: I don’t! I take lots of photographs, but I’m too distracted. When I’m outdoors, I just want to focus on being outdoors. I paint in a basement with teeny tiny windows.

AR: Is your philosophy of consumption directly related to your artistic practice?

KR: I’ve been painting for a long time, and I’m going to continue to paint and use the materials I have. In my installations, I repurpose many parts and recycle what I can. Since the work is all about systems, I try to keep in mind how each part of the work can be incorporated into the greater system of working in the studio and exhibiting pieces. This has made me consider their material composition, weight, color, and potential for existing outside the current form. I’m also starting to work with linen, silk, and India ink, which can be composted. 

AR: What is it about the intricacies of atmospheric rivers—an overarching and macro-scale climate phenomenon—that you are interested in representing?

KR: Atmospheric rivers are ribbons of moisture that pour massive amounts of rain down into a very narrow band, so those areas flood while the areas around the atmospheric river are left in drought. They are becoming more intense now as the climate changes. The installation is in response to this pattern as it is depicted swollen with water, surrounded by elements working within the system that we cannot see, like vapor, carbon, oxygen, and nitrogen. Things in the atmosphere. Trees are so similar to humans in the percentage of water they hold and the carbon they store in their systems. When the forest system is big enough, it controls and localized weather patterns. But things are becoming very unstable now when droughts make these systems all the more fragile. I also represent these rivers in the paintings, where ghostly streams appear woven between the trees. It’s a whole system at work in this exhibition.

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“Katherine Steichen Rosing: Atmospheric Intricacies” is on display at James May Gallery, 2201 N. Farwell Ave., through June 29.