WILDFLOWER PLAYHOUSE PRESENTS
Emily Harper and M. Lind:
Shapes of Cognition
ON VIEW IN THE GALLERY MARCH 2 - APRIL 12
ARTIST RECEPTION
Fri, Mar 27, 4pm - 6:30pm
An exhibition on neurodiversity as a community asset exploring the edges between logic and instinct. Pairing Emily Harper’s hard-lined geometrics with M. Lind’s abstract chaos, they contemplate the inner workings of the artist's mind and how it presents itself in the form of similarly colorful process-oriented abstractions.
ARTIST STATEMENT
The brain is divided into two hemispheres, which are colloquially thought to carry the opposite functions of analysis and intuition. Lind’s study of the differences in the divided brain leads to an embrace of the divergent ways people come to make art and function in systems that assume predictable behavior and orderly outcomes.
Seeing neurodiversity as a way for communities to have a better chance of thriving and surviving, we observe two artists who approach the creation process in completely opposite manners yet end up with process-oriented art that helps them survive the trials of living.
ARTIST BIO
Harper, who is neurodivergent, makes work which appears orderly and meticulous. This betrays the actuality of a life in relative chaos– and a general struggle to adapt to ‘real world’ conditions and meet societal expectations. The main resolve in her art is that with order on the canvas, all will be well. The long hours spent on repetitive pattern making are actually a meditative process which quiets the mind and gives rest to the otherwise racing thoughts and tormenting internal narratives.
Lind, is neurotypical, but has a lifetime of experience being adjacent to and caring for people with varying degrees of neurodivergence. She is the organizer of her family and master of minutia in the day-to-day. She uses intuition as a guide in the artistic process as a way to allow emotion, chaos, and stress to be channeled to the canvas in organic, ever-changing lines and brushstrokes.