There was a time when Lakeview-based artist Jaclyn Mednicov solely painted figurative scenes of nature from a polite distance. But as her work evolved, those wild grasses, weeds and flowers that were once simply subjects joined her arsenal of materials, becoming an intrinsic part of her composition process.
Mednicov's expansive "Skin" series, which she considers equal parts sculpture and painting, is a prime example. To embark, she presses plants into a slab of soft clay, then proceeds to make an intricate series of negative and positive molds using plaster, silicone and acrylic paint. Some are left as is, others are airbrushed with layers of pigment. The resulting pieces are like botanical relief maps that capture all the subtle textures and details of the stems, leaves, blossoms and pods Mednicov has collected.
The artist forages in her backyard as well as at urban lots and local garden centers. She's partial to those plants that tend to be overlooked, like grasses pushing up between pavement cracks and weeds, the tireless underdogs of the garden. And while she often works with specimens at their peak, Mednicov is also drawn to those that are almost (but not quite) past their prime. "There is such beauty in a flower just before it wilts-and what that conveys about the passage of time, memory and the stages of life," she shares.
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