Artist's Statement
My artists' books, prints and installations convey a settling process:
my settling into the Flint Hills of Kansas (home of much of the last
remaining tallgrass prairie ecosystem), the settling of my great, great
grandmothers on the prairie in the 19th century, and the settling of
prairie seed pods and other objects that, like books, act as transports
for germination and regeneration. I see myself as a reverse pioneer - one
who observes, re-imagines and re-images what was overlooked by the
first prairie pioneers - the vitality, diversity and importance of
prairie populations: native peoples, plants and ecosystems.
For more information on the artist please see
http://www.k-state.edu/art/faculty/bios/melis_r/.
This exhibit runs from May 7–December 15, 2007, in the Lane Hall Gallery, 204 S. State Street. Lane Hall Gallery hours are 8:00 am – 5:00 pm, M–F.
Special thanks to the co-sponsors of this exhibit, the Women Studies Department.