Lisa Matthias: Field Notes

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Lisa Matthias, "Diatom Construction 3, " 2021

hand printed woodblock print, 55" x 35"

Artist Reception & Talks will be held Saturday June 4, 1-4

Lisa will be in attendance

CKG is pleased to announce an exhibition of new work by Edmonton area artist, Lisa Matthias. The show will include large-format woodcut prints as well as prints created in 2020-2021. 

The latest prints shown are oversized botanical studies of the little-known microscopic world of Sphagnum mosses. Sphagnum mosses, or peat mosses, are a diverse and ecologically important group of plants that create peatlands – a kind of wetland that is abundant in boreal regions across Alberta and the Northern Hemisphere. These habitats hold a tremendous amount of potential for climate change mitigation through their carbon storage. Sphagnum decomposes very slowly, accumulating massive reserves of un-decomposed plant material (or peat) over millennia. This sequesters more carbon than any other ecosystem type on land, and Canada has some of the largest peatland carbon stores in the world. In collaboration with a bryologist (a scientist who studies mosses and liverworts), Lisa dissected specimens of several common sphagnum species from Alberta peatlands, and translated those into large woodblock prints. These botanical portraits explore the beautiful and fascinating cellular structures that distinguish Sphagnum mosses. 

Complementing this work, Lisa’s 2021 series of large woodcuts explores diatoms, in an ongoing collaboration with a phycologist (a scientist who studies algae). Diatoms are single-celled photosynthesizing organisms that are covered in intricately patterned silica cell walls called frustules. They’re responsible for producing a large proportion of Earth’s oxygen, and there are thousands of different species. These woodcuts expressively examine some of the microscopic patterns in diatom frustules in freshwater samples collected by Lisa and her colleague.