NKB Printmakers share ideas, combine mediums
by Karen Kraco
posted on February 3, 2022
“The Print Club” is what Ingrid Restemayer has taken to calling a core group of Northrup King Building (NKB) artists who recently have begun to meet to share their work and information about printmaking. “It’s a way that we can collaborate and show together and start to create a little more energy or synergy,” said Dean Trisko, who organized the group and in whose studio the group’s first exhibition was presented.
A virtual exhibition of work by textile artist Ingrid Restemayer
Opening January 15 and running through March 15, 2022 Talk to Me presents 10 new pieces by Restemayer, all made within the last year. The artist — who uses handmade paper, embroidery and etchings to create serene studies in color and meaning — narrates the human struggle to communicate with the language of maritime flag design.
The strong graphic sensibility immediately engages the eye, while the often mysterious placement of texture and biological illustrations give viewers cause for contemplation. The series matches the aesthetic principles of Restemayer’s previous work, while expanding into new, fertile territory.
After studying maritime flag design and traditional fiber art methods in New Zealand and the Dalmatian Coast, Restemayer began to incorporate these forms into her work. But the pandemic gave this approach added substance. Communication at a distance became a necessity, exacerbating the pervasiveness of digital technology that has generated a glut of information transmitted instantaneously around the globe. Restemayer’s hand-made work slows down this process, adding in layers of meaning that are only accessible when we take the time to observe, appreciate and listen.
In this way, Talk to Me is timely and timeless. The artist’s use of fiber to engage critically with the world and illuminate deep running themes in the human experience exemplify Susan Hensel Gallery’s commitment to exhibiting important work in a diverse array of materials.
A Minneapolis, Minnesota based artist, Restemayer received her education in fine art at the University of North Dakota and Whitecliffe College of Art and Design in Auckland, New Zealand. She is the recipient of several awards including a Minnesota State Arts Board Artist Initiative Grant and a Jerome Foundation Emerging Fiber Artist Grant through the Textile Center of Minnesota. Her solo exhibitions have appeared at the Penny George Institute, the Nina Bliese Gallery, the Benedicta Arts Center, a previous series at Susan Hensel Gallery, among many others.
The Susan Hensel Gallery is proud to see Restemayer return to their online space. The gallery focuses on compelling objects, meaningful use of materials and engaging sculpture. It is a gallery where experimental ideas and works of the hand join to create unique sensory experiences.
“Art may be in NEMAA’s name, but traditional craft is also at the heart of who we are. When you can combine the two, though, as these four Members do, the results are next level… Ingrid Restemayer draws inspiration for her minimalist grids of hand-stitched dashes and knots from the calm of the open Northern plains.”
— InStudio Magazine, Spring 2020
“Showcasing exquisite images by Ingrid Restemayer, a Minneapolis based artist who collages her refined etchings of koi fish and bird eggs onto handmade paper ornamented with stitchery or embroidery knots. Hung like Chinese scrolls, Restemayer’s tranquil compositions beautifully complement contemporary and traditional interiors.”
— Star Tribune, March 2006
“Though her prints incorporate every day objects like ticket stubs, film strips and keys, the thread that holds these objects to the paper evokes the quality of cracks in the ice, veins in a leaf or ripples in the water. She stitches these objects into the surface of the paper, as though to empasize the way such relics are stitched into our own lives.”
— Pulse of the Twin Cities, May 2005
“Not only do the collages feign readability with their open-book disguise, they also remind the viewer of the required participation inherent in reading. After all, the color and movement of a story come from the reader’s mind and not from the flattened symbols on the page.”
— VitaMN, April 2007
“The result resembles code or narrative - a secret language of relationships. Her experience with quilting and embroidery and her personal history are brought into the prints through this quasi-quilt maker’s approach. Some of the pieces appear quilt-like; others conjure up pages from ancient, untranslated codices. ”
— Fiberarts Magazine, September October 2006