Out of the Wild (2021)

Souvenirs carry with them their connection to a former life. When accumulated, they build the collective memory of forgotten places and times, the burden of the past, but also the promise of the future.

Artists Lynn Northrop, bobCollignon, and Bethany Krull explore the concept of remembrance by collecting objects—vintage frames, gadgets, toys, and images—to build their mythologies. For Collignon, it’s the legend of an Outdoorsman; for Northrop, the timeless story of connectedness; and for Krull, the account of a tumultuous human-animal relationship. Regardless, both artists remind us of our link to nature and history with the comfortingly familiar patina of a vintage parlor.

After being sequestrated to our homes for over a year, the arrival of summer heralds sentiments of new hopes and dreams of the great outdoors. Out of the Wild showcases knickknacks meant to decorate our interiors while reminding us of the wild and the permanent fragility of our human connections to nature. The objects presented are strangely familiar, a carefully curated collection reminiscent of a recent collective past.

Curated by Véronique Côté.

About Lynn B. Northrop

Lynn B. Northrop received her Bachelor of Fine Art in Design and Sculpture from Syracuse University in 1968 and has lived in Western New York since 1970. She was employed by Fisher Price as a product designer from 1970 through 1978 when she became an independent toy inventor working with Hasbro, Mego, Tonka, and Panosh Place.

Northrop has often exhibited her work with the Buffalo Society of Artists, also serving as president in 2003 and 2004. Her work was exhibited in many shows including a solo show Metamorphormations at the Indigo Gallery (Buffalo). She has also shown work at the Erie Art Museum (Erie, PA), and the 2013, 2015, and 2019 editions of Art in Craft Media at the Burchfield Penney.

Although raptors are a frequent subject of Northrop’s work, figures and other animals appear regularly. Each work is composed of elements from the natural world as well as man made objects to convey the power of connectedness across time.

About bobCollignon

bobCollignon received a Bachelor of Fine Art from the State University of New York College at Buffalo in 1978, studying photography, anthropology, and jewelry design. He pursued work on an MFA from the University at Buffalo from 1982 through 1984 although he did not complete the program. Instead, he started the award-winning studio Collignon/Jarosz Photography with fellow photographer Dave Jarosz. The firm specializes in advertising, corporate, industrial, and editorial work, with a number of major regional and national clients. He also served as the curator and later assistant director at CEPA Gallery from 1980 to 1985. During the same period, Collignon has exhibited solo work in numerous galleries and museums. His work is included in the permanent collections of the Burchfield Penney and the Albright-Knox Art Gallery.

The bobCollignon: Outdoorsman series gathers original works as well as found objects, vintage frames, and photographs into an ever growing collection forming a self-mythology of masculinity and the experience of the wild. Gathering self-portraits, mementos, and appropriated images, the series depicts a vague but familiar story.

About Bethany Krull

Bethany Krull received a Masters of Fine Arts at the School for American Crafts, RIT, Rochester, NY in 2007 and her Bachelors of Fine Arts, State University College at Buffalo, NY in 2004. Working in a wide range of scale, Bethany’s ceramic creations of animals and creatures are instantly recognizable, giving the audience a wondrous object to look at while contemplating man and natures relationships. Her white, soft and playful style mixing traditional materials with found objects is a treasure in the local Buffalo area. Bethany’s statement on the series included in the exhibition: “Snails traversing the painted flowers of a teacup, a surrogate habitat that spotlights the dichotomy between wild and tame, interior and exterior and natural and artificial”.

Her artwork is included in collections all over the country including the Burchfield Penney Art Center in Buffalo, NY, The Meadows Museum at Centenary College of Louisiana, Shreveport, LA, Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, NY and internationally at Lord and Lady Glentoran, Dublin, Ireland.