Art and Nature at Silverwood Park

Two artists from the Northeast Minneapolis Arts District are currently on exhibit at Silverwood Park: sculptor Marjorie Fedyszyn and painter Toni Gallo (Casket Arts Building and Thorp Building, respectively). Through their powerful explorations of loss and presence, each artist’s work prompts a deeper connection and responsiveness in our relationship to the natural world.

In the next ten years, Minnesota stands to lose over a billion ash trees to the invasive Emerald Ash Borer. To call attention to this significant loss, Fedyszyn worked directly with Silverwood Park staff to create a paper relief of a dying ash tree in the park. The work was prompted by the loss of a beloved ash tree that stood at Fedyszyn’s home for 50 years. “The tree’s presence had a profound impact. The thought of losing a billion trees feels unimaginable.” The massive white paper cast—reminiscent of burial cloth—spans the Silverwood Park gallery space. Fedyszyn said she hopes the piece will encourage people to contemplate the loss of these trees—and do what we still can to protect them.

Gallo’s paintings similarly encourage a deeper awareness of our presence within the natural world. In her blended figurative landscapes, the boundaries between human figures and the spaces they inhabit is deliberately imprecise, suggesting we are more integrated than distinct. She said there is freedom to be found in meditating on that interconnection. “That’s where healing comes from, whether it’s interpersonal or environmental.”

Gallo’s show “The Formless Orchestrating An Assembly Of Form; A Material Projection” and Fedyszyn’s piece “Decline and Fall” will be on display at the Silverwood Park visitor center through April 30. Silverwood Park will host a public Art and Nature Gallery Talk on April 1, from 1-2:15 p.m., bringing Fedyszyn and Three Rivers’ Propagation Specialist Missy Anderson together for a unique conversation about trees and the impact of climate change and disease on our tree-scape. Silverwood Park is at 2500 County Road E, in St. Anthony. For more information, visit: https://www.threeriversparks.org/page/art-silverwood.

Article and Photography by Katherine Boyce