I'm at Printeresting today. Read about a few of my favorite pieces exhibited during SGCI this year. Find it here.

Swoon in St. Louis at Bruno David Gallery.

Tempting Equilibrium

If you're in St. Louis this Saturday, please join us from 4-6pm at the reception for Tempting Equilibrium at Des Lee Gallery.

Above: Study for Timeline

Victoria Burge & printmaking.

Inking & printing at the abandoned house. The carpet is severely water damaged: I'm putting it to one last use.

Emily Barletta's fiber & ceramic works.

Hi! Cedra Wood here--and it's my pleasure to have been asked to do a guest post here on Map Mint! It's one of my favorite blogs, and Sage is one of my favorite people. So, awesome.

I'm just going to jump right into it, with the work of an artist I'm continually impressed by, Michelle Forsyth. Her work takes many forms--gouache paintings, sculptures, and paper installations, to name a few--but an ever-present theme is that of human trauma, ranging from the global scale to community disasters to individual suffering.

TWA flight 800 crash, East Moriches, Long Island, July 17, 1996, (Drawing #3 from the 100 Drawings Project), 2006 gouache and pigment based ink on watercolor paper, 15 x 22 inches.

Despite the weightiness of its professed subject, it's hard not to be charmed by the work. The materials are often whimsical, sometimes even sweet--colorfully concentric painted patterns, felt, pins and beads, glitter, paper cut into floral shapes--and each piece is clearly the result of hours of translation through the hand, an act both reverent and obsessive.

Detail, TWA flight 800 crash, East Moriches, Long Island, July 17, 1996.

Detail, Point Ellice Bridge Collapse, Victoria, BC, May 26, 1896, 2007.

Detail, Florescence 3 (Flowers for Iraq), 2006.

Sometimes the tactile, hand-made pixels compose images of graphic violence, as in the Trauma Paintings series:

Trouble Spot, 2004 Gouache on Mylar, 28 x 28 inches.

More often then not, though, Forsyth chooses to embody a disaster by addressing the things that witnessed it silently, or have grown up in its wake. Flowers are a common theme...these wildflowers had been growing by the bridge that collapsed, those sprung up decades after a disastrous fire, this plastic bouquet was left at the foot of a monument, etc.

September 17, 1949 (#4 from Ostinatos), 2008. Paper, gouache, felt, beads and pins mounted on archival panel, 26 x 39 inch image, 30 x 43 inch frame.

June 17, 1958 (for my grandfather) (#1 from Ostinatos), 2007. Paper, watercolor, casein, gouache, felt, beads and pins, 48 x 60 inches.

Her distinctive patterning, obsessively detailed approach, and color sense translate beautifully into off-the-wall works, too.

Cluster 1, 2005 Gouache, gesso and hot glue on watercolor paper with wood and latex, 12 x 11 x 11 inches.

Detail, For September Second, 2010. Watercolor and screenprint on paper, silver thread, zip ties, beads, sequins, and monofilament, 144 x 96 x 24 inches.

Canopy, February 24-April 8, 2009. Screenprint on hand-cut Arches 90lb. Hahnemuhle photo ink jet paper, watercolor on paper, ColorAid paper, sandpaper, glassine, wire, beads, rubber stoppers, sequins, yarn, eyehooks and monofilament.

If you like these, check out more of her work. I promise I've only scratched the surface here!

Cedra Wood is guest writing later this week. Click over to her blog; Cedra shares about her painting process, adventures working in a violin shop & meticulous illustrations for textbooks. It's all very inspiring.

You can also find her writing at the Land Arts of the American West website. Recently one of her pieces was included in the permanent collections at the Nevada Museum of Art's Center for Art & Environment. She's a great teacher, friend and someone I deeply admire. Look for Cedra on Friday.

All photos via Cedra.