The Hand of the River

Works by Moira Bateman and Leo Smith III

April 29 - August 21,.2016

The second exhibition in the Minnesota Marine Art Museum’s Mississippi River Series reveals a unique interaction with the River environment – where the River itself is a part of the creative process. The Hand of the River pairs Winona sculptor Leo Smith with Minneapolis fiber and mixed media sculptor Moira Bateman.

While each artist’s work is unique in several ways, both Smith and Bateman use natural, Mississippi River-dyed materials in their work. Smith carves wood from virgin white logs recovered from the River. Often, these found materials have been submerged for more than a century, imparting a lovely golden hue to the wood due to minerals and tannins in the water.  Bateman deliberately submerges textiles in the River and its adjacent streams, lakes and bogs in order to stain and dye her textiles.