March 1 - April 5, 2024
www.printmakers.mb.ca/

New solo exhibition of work from 2016 to 2023, at Maud Gallery, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Show runs Dec 16 2023 to January 31 2024. maudgallery.com/

I gratefully acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts.

canadacouncil.ca/

July 20-Sept 27, 2023. www.vernonpublicartgallery.com/

My print "Red-eyed Vireo Nest", Woodcut, Ink on Paper, 2023, 36x48", was acquired in June 2023 by Strathcona County, Alberta, for its art collection.

I was an artist-in-residence at Point Pelee National Park, Ontario, Canada, during the week of June 12, 2023. This southernmost mainland tip of Canada on Lake Erie is home to many rare and endangered plant and animal species. It's a protected marshland area that I've wanted to visit for birdwatching for many years. My creative research involved exploring the natural history of the park, a beautiful example of Carolinian zone habitat.

Artist in Residence at the historic Yorath House in Edmonton's North Saskatchewan River valley, Jan 16-Feb 17, 2023.

New work at Spruce Grove Art Gallery Jan 9-Feb 4 2023.

www.alliedartscouncil.com/fa-lisa-matth…

www.christineklassengallery.com/exhibit…

June 4 - July 9, 2022

"CKG is pleased to announce an exhibition of new work by Edmonton area artist, Lisa Matthias."

"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."

Infinitesimal, an exhibition of new works from 2022 and 2021, plus work from 2019-2020, is showing at Gallery@501 in Sherwood Park, Alberta, January 14-February 19 2022. *show extended until end of April 2022

Lisa Matthias: Ecological Constructs
September 9 - October 16, 2021

opening reception, artist in attendance: Saturday, September 11, 2-5 PM

The gallery is very pleased to present our first solo exhibition by Edmonton, AB based artist, Lisa Matthias. Lisa will speak briefly about her work at 3PM during the reception. Contact the gallery for any information. Masks are required when indoors. Social distancing will still be in effect.

"My interdisciplinary artistic practice is driven by my environmentalism and scientific training. As an artist who is also an ecologist, I’m interested in work about our environmental footprint in the Anthropocene Epoch, including the different scales at which we can view our impacts. Printmaking is a field of study that I’ve been focused on for more than a decade. I’m inspired by many different kinds of visual artists, but for generating my own work, there is nothing to compare to the experimental and technical processes and aesthetic qualifies of print media. I’m primarily a printmaker, using a variety of traditional and experimental print media, but regularly use other media like sound recording and animation in my creative practice. Much of my practice has a strong element of hand-made craftsmanship. However, technology is embedded in the process and work, and contributes to my conceptual explorations of technology as a way to see and care for the environment. My artwork reflects how the interdisciplinarity of contemporary art and ecology can offer a unique visual perspective" - Lisa Matthias

Location:
Spudnik Press Cooperative

Events
WaterBodies | Artist Talk & Virtual Reception
Tuesday July 20
7:00 p.m. CST

Exhibition Statement:
WaterBodies features immersive relief prints by Amanda Lilleston and Lisa Matthias.

Amanda Lilleston explores interconnected systems of biology and physiology. In her work, human beings are integrated into the larger ecosystem. Translucent prints depicting tissues, organs, and anatomical structures are layered with botanical and zoological forms. The membranous quality of the paper allows tendons, arteries, and tissues to connect and create new pathways unhindered by physiological limitations. Blood, bones, and the botanical are suspended in water and susceptible to its density, nourishment, and perpetual movement. Organic forms shift and adapt together. They shape and are shaped by their environment.

Lisa Matthias’ artwork builds on this worldview where nature is not a separate entity but is a web. Her prints featured in WaterBodies stem from a collaboration with a colleague and scientist studying algae, aquatic ecology, and a microscopic group of algae called diatoms. Diatoms are intricately patterned single-celled organisms responsible for producing a large proportion of Earth’s oxygen. Her large scale prints embrace ambiguity. They are abstract and referential, expressive and structured, graphic and sculptural. They are simultaneously architectural and biological and could reference man-made constructions, microscopic worlds, or they could be otherworldly.

By bringing together prints by these two artists, WaterBodies invites viewers to consider the relationships within and between humans and the natural world. With a focus on biological forms, these larger-than-life prints embrace a sense of wonder and appreciation for anatomy and ecology. They urge us to seek out unity and harmony with the biological environment that we are unmistakably a part of.

All about the confluence of printmaking and ecology in my work, featured in my local paper The Spruce Grove Examiner on May 21 2021, and via live radio interview on CBC Edmonton's afternoon radio show Radio Active on June 4 2021.

Duo exhibition at Edmonton's Wild Skies Gallery, from May 2 to July 23, 2021. Featuring new large-format woodcut prints from 2021, and selections from 2020 and 2019.

From christineklassengallerycom:

Like many of us, artists have been deep in their contained and safe worlds during the pandemic. In their studios - exploring and reflecting. Some artists have created new works during this time; experimental or play, some are looking at older artworks that are used for inspiration.

It’s been A YEAR. Let’s celebrate the creativity.

Featuring artworks by:

Karrie Arthurs
Ronald Boaks
Heather Close & Sarah Nordean (collaborative prints)
Rick Ducommon
Julya Hajnoczky
Chris Kuzmanovich
Madeleine Lamont
Lori Lukasewich
Lisa Matthias
Robert Pierce
Teresa Posyniak
Michael Schreiner
Carl White