Featuring the work of Robin Dluzen

IHM MOTHERHOUSE GALLERY | 610 W. Elm Ave., Monroe, Mich.

For the past 15 years, the content of my work has journeyed along a spectrum, with the natural world at one end, and the structures and imprints of human labors on the other. Initially, this trajectory developed as I mined the Midwestern labor histories of my family, in particular my mother’s career as a horticulturalist and botanical illustrator, and my father’s multifaceted pursuits as an agricultural extension agent, iron foundryman, builder, furniture maker and freight train engineer. In my drawings and sculptures, I combine re-drawings of my mother’s illustrations in charcoal and graphite, and materials like wooden pallets and aluminum ductwork culled from my father’s experiences. However, incorporating my parents’ stories and influences is only scratching the surface of what motivates me; the most profound impact of my upbringing is having been ingrained with a way of looking, noticing, choosing, picking and engaging. In my collage work, such characteristics are their own kind of “mark” — what I choose and how I then contextualize it is as unique as a smudge of charcoal or a stroke of a pencil. My actions of picking and culling are a manifestation of taste and point of view — both things that are molded by where I come from and inherited from my family. —Robin Dluzen

For more information about the exhibit, contact Sharon Venier at 734-240-9754 or email svenier@ihmsisters.org.