Art Map Burlington, April 2007

ART REVIEW

Lorraine Lagerbloom’s Prairie Days

Made Boutique & Gallery’s new Church Street space, which currently showcases some 30 designers and craftspeople, proves a perfect venue for Lorraine Lagerbloom’s delicate and textured mixed media collages. The artist, a former UVM student with a studio in Beacon, New York, evokes subtle, often specifically American landscapes and images using a varied handful of materials including Christmas lights, wallpaper scraps, papier-mâché, and tracing paper with burnt edges.

There is a lovely wistful quality to much of Lagerbloom’s work. The muted colors of her basic background materials are well suited to the romantic natural settings that clearly inspire the larger pieces. In Prairie Lights, (21”x58”, mixed media collage, 2007) a translucent, three-dimensional Western grassland rolls along the wall, bisected by a low fence backlit with warm lights that could be fireflies. Red splotches of flowers and a single charcoal line of mountains in the background complete the scene.

The natural world threads itself throughout the exhibit, which has a homemade feel. Lagerbloom’s grasp of scale and color is emphasized in the focal points of several works: coin-sized horses graze on a relatively vast, nearly blank range, and in For Papa (Tufted Titmouse) (10”x8”, papier-mâché collage, 2007) the bird appears as an isolated blot of color on a background of pale sky.

Lagerbloom’s use of unexpected formats and materials for familiar images creates an impression of both innocence and expertise. A trio of small frames, Bird Cameos (7”x5” each, wallpaper collage, 2007) incorporates embellished scraps of old wallpaper with drawings; in one, lovebirds roost on a rose-colored fleur-de-lis background. This is no Victorian valentine, though. These are thoughtfully designed collages, simple and well executed. Understated rather than striking, they are warmly communicative artworks worth a close look.

G. BLAKE MACPHAIL

Art Map Burlington ARTICLE
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detail of Bird Cameo 4”x6” wallpaper collage 2007 Made Boutique & Gallery 22 Church Street Suite 2-6 (2nd Floor) (802) 651-0659 www.madeboutique.com		ART REVIEW Lorraine Lagerbloom’s Prairie Days Made Boutique & Gallery’s new Church Street space, which currently showcases some 30 designers and craftspeople, proves a perfect venue for Lorraine Lagerbloom’s delicate and textured mixed media collages. The artist, a former UVM student with a studio in Beacon, New York, evokes subtle, often specifically American landscapes and images using a varied handful of materials including Christmas lights, wallpaper scraps, papier-mâché, and tracing paper with burnt edges. There is a lovely wistful quality to much of Lagerbloom’s work. The muted colors of her basic background materials are well suited to the romantic natural settings that clearly inspire the larger pieces. In Prairie Lights, (21”x58”, mixed media collage, 2007) a translucent, three-dimensional Western grassland rolls along the wall, bisected by a low fence backlit with warm lights that could be fireflies. Red splotches of flowers and a single charcoal line of mountains in the background complete the scene. The natural world threads itself throughout the exhibit, which has a homemade feel. Lagerbloom’s grasp of scale and color is emphasized in the focal points of several works: coin-sized horses graze on a relatively vast, nearly blank range, and in For Papa (Tufted Titmouse) (10”x8”, papier-mâché collage, 2007) the bird appears as an isolated blot of color on a background of pale sky. Lagerbloom’s use of unexpected formats and materials for familiar images creates an impression of both innocence and expertise. A trio of small frames, Bird Cameos (7”x5” each, wallpaper collage, 2007) incorporates embellished scraps of old wallpaper with drawings; in one, lovebirds roost on a rose-colored fleur-de-lis background. This is no Victorian valentine, though. These are thoughtfully designed collages, simple and well executed. Understated rather than striking, they are warmly communicative artworks worth a close look. G. BLAKE MACPHAIL

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