Visions from the Western Uplands

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The Western Uplands are Wisconsin’s portion of the Midwestern region commonly know as the the Driftless Area, including Southeastern Minnesota, Northeast Iowa, and Northwest Illinois. This geography is represented through high bluffs of exposed bedrock and steep sided valleys. 

Celeste Nelms is drawn to people’s discarded possessions. The wear of an object reminds her of her own human mortality. Celeste seek's out objects in thrift stores, free piles and sometimes they are gifted. Then she places the objects into organic environments and photographs herself interacting creating stories. Her work is intuitive and records responses both physically and psychologically, exploring the dynamics of human presence in our natural world. 

The works David Wyrick is creating for this exhibition are from a body of work entitled “Mineral Form Studies.” These new works are a direct reflection on David's immersion into the landscape of the Western Uplands of Wisconsin. This is David's first experience in carving native rock of the region. For many years David did not push himself to work directly with these sedimentary stones.