Fine Art
Collaboration, Community and the Environment
Artists Suprina & Lisa Winika
Share their Journey and Collaborative Process Leading to the First Installation of
"We Are The Forest"
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Suprina Performs "The Plantings" at Queen City 15 Gallery
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Collaboration
Suprina and Lisa are both owner-members of the Queen City 15 Gallery in Poughkeepsie, NY. As sculptors, they decided to create a small installation on an 8’ wall titled “Gnome in Forest.” It was very well received, so they decided to create a large-scale, collaborative installation in the fall of 2020. This was the first installation of the ongoing project We Are The Forest titled "The Plantings." It debuted at Queen City 15 Gallery in April 2021 and was on view through May 2021. Project Statement Suprina and Lisa developed a global portraiture that recognizes both the enchantment of the spirit world and the harsh realities of human existence. Their aim is to represent the coincidence of the ethereal and earthy realms as well as the underlying catastrophic discourse presented by that relationship. They invite you to journey the created path and ponder the inherent beauty of each object. If your spirit is open, you may also ponder the Kontomblés who work to defend Mother Earth using methods unknown. |
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Why Create a Magical Forest Out of Trash? The intention was to create artistic beauty drawn out of ‘the castaway.’ For Suprina, this speaks in parallel to how we treat each other, the homeless, the drug addicted, the poor…and the planet. By taking ‘trash’ out of its typical, haphazard environment where the passerby avoids or ignores it, the purposeful and completely different placement raises its visual status, thereby encouraging the viewer to examine the objects more closely and to empathize with the ‘story’ behind the myriad discarded objects. The objects have not changed, only their place in the world. The Forest also speaks to our unrelenting need to purchase. Everything we buy will become trash - sooner or later. |
Panoramic View at Queen City 15 Gallery
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Collections and Kontomblés
Photo Courtesy: Suprina and Lisa Winika |
Collecting, Conceptualizing and Kontomblés
Suprina developed the concept and design. First on the list was the daunting task of collecting hundreds of gallon paint cans (Suprina considers these the epitome of our carbon footprint) and quart cans to create a forest with a large enough impact. Tall slender throwaway objects were also used. In total, the first “We Are The Forest” installation included 344 gallon cans, 48 quarts and dozens of additional throwaway objects (shovels, mops, brooms, curtain rods, golf clubs, etc.) that were formally ‘placed’ to mimic how an actual forest grows. The completed installation measured 30’ X 18’. No glue or hardware was used. Only gravity held the forest in place. Kontomblé is a word used in West Africa to describe the little people who are the embodied spirits of nature. They are described in every culture and called by many names. They have cared for the Earth from the beginning of time and create the landscape of reality. In this show, Lisa created Kontomblés from both discarded items retrieved from abandoned places and natural objects like bones, stones, feathers and driftwood. She shares, "No matter the changes we make going forward, we cannot undo what's already been done. Nature will adapt, integrate, or destroy, with or without us." |
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Installation: A floor plan was created with a walking path wide enough to deal with COVID restrictions. The forest floor was covered with donated, black plastic, and Lisa’s Kontomblés were added. It took five days and the help of numerous volunteers to complete. Planting Donation Event: Community members participated in a planting event to encourage interaction and to allow the forest to grow. Participants brough an object to plant, and Suprina guided them in her ‘bag costume.’ Each person who donated something, made a statement about their object as a type of 'memorial.' Find a TIME LAPSE VIDEO. |
Photo Courtesy: Suprina & Lisa Winika
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Performance Video:
Suprina had initially planned to do the performance in person. However, it was impossible to have a seated audience that could actually see what was being planted due to COVID restrictions. In the future, every venue that exhibits The Forest will also have its very own, site-specific performance video to go with it.
The Traveling Forest:
Suprina and Lisa are actively seeking venues that would like to exhibit The Forest. If readers are interested or have a suggestion for a suitable venue, please contact Suprina.
Suprina had initially planned to do the performance in person. However, it was impossible to have a seated audience that could actually see what was being planted due to COVID restrictions. In the future, every venue that exhibits The Forest will also have its very own, site-specific performance video to go with it.
The Traveling Forest:
Suprina and Lisa are actively seeking venues that would like to exhibit The Forest. If readers are interested or have a suggestion for a suitable venue, please contact Suprina.
After visiting The Forest, Myrna Haskell, executive editor, contacted Suprina and Lisa to ask about their takeaways from this first installation.
What surprised you the most about the completed installation?
Suprina: People wanted to stay and often asked if there was a place they could sit and ponder.
Lisa: I felt it was a very welcoming, comfortable environment. Visitors called it 'enchanting.'
What were some of the typical reactions and comments?
Suprina: So many people were surprised at how beautiful the installation was. They knew it was made of trash, so they had a preconceived notion that it would be repulsive.
Lisa: In seeing everyday objects outside of their normal context, people were able to notice the inherent beauty of the things. For instance, mop hardware becomes an elegant minimalist sculpture.
What do you hope the viewer takes away from the experience?
Suprina: I hope they think of The Forest every time they go to make a purchase, and I hope they find more beauty in their world.
Lisa: I want people to realize there is no 'away.' I would like them to consider that nature has to process everything we leave behind.
Suprina: People wanted to stay and often asked if there was a place they could sit and ponder.
Lisa: I felt it was a very welcoming, comfortable environment. Visitors called it 'enchanting.'
What were some of the typical reactions and comments?
Suprina: So many people were surprised at how beautiful the installation was. They knew it was made of trash, so they had a preconceived notion that it would be repulsive.
Lisa: In seeing everyday objects outside of their normal context, people were able to notice the inherent beauty of the things. For instance, mop hardware becomes an elegant minimalist sculpture.
What do you hope the viewer takes away from the experience?
Suprina: I hope they think of The Forest every time they go to make a purchase, and I hope they find more beauty in their world.
Lisa: I want people to realize there is no 'away.' I would like them to consider that nature has to process everything we leave behind.
Suprina (left) & Lisa (right) at the Entrance to The Forest
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Suprina: What was your favorite part about working with Lisa?
Lisa’s energy and dedication to the project! I had never done a collaboration before I met Lisa. It’s super hard work even if you create in the way that Lisa and I do - separate but together. She is very generous with her time, energy and thoughts. She also has a great sense of humor, which is so important when you take something like this on. Lisa: What was your favorite part about working with Suprina? I have been an artist for less than ten years, and I still feel like I’m fumbling about much of the time. Suprina has always been supportive and patient with me and very generous in sharing her knowledge and experience. There is definitely a vulnerability in collaborating with another artist. It requires trust, both on an emotional level and in your partner’s artistic vision. It was such a pleasure to trust in Suprina’s vision and enjoy the delightful and surprising result. |
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Suprina studied sculpture at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, PA but gained the bulk of her craft knowledge from working in the field of promotional, prop making. Her clients included Annie Leibovitz, Apple Computer, Bloomingdales, and the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. After 9/11, Suprina decided she would focus solely on her own artworks, which discuss environmental, social and political issues.
She created her first public sculpture in 2012 when she was selected for FigmentNYC interactive public sculpture shown on Governors Island in 2012. Viewers walked into the 14’ high sculpture to read three sentences about peace and tolerance handwritten in 32 languages. In 2013, she was the solo sculptor in a group show exhibiting 32 sculptures in Morristown Court House Atrium, NJ that later moved to Gallery Aferro in Newark. Suprina was awarded grants by the Puffin Foundation (2015) and by LMCC (2016) to complete her 2nd public sculpture titled “The DNA Totem,” which debuted in 2016 in Marcus Garvey Park, Harlem. She organized a series of performance art done on site that summer titled “Trash Talks.” The DNA Totem has traveled to: Rye Arts Center, Rye; The Wilderstein Historic Site in Rhinebeck, NY; Sculpture for Leonia; the old railway station in Phoenicia, NY; and on the Walkway Over the Hudson - coming in 2021. In 2021, Suprina was awarded two grants from NYSCofA Decentralization Program. She has shown in Chelsea, Governors Island, Chicago, Scottsdale, Brooklyn, Harlem, Newark, Morristown, Southampton, and The Monmouth Museum. Collections are located at Yuko Nii Foundation, JCC Harlem, and in private collections. She currently runs Queen City 15 Gallery in Poughkeepsie, NY with five other artists. |
Lisa Winika is a self-taught artist who expresses her vision through diverse media and genre: drawing, painting, sculpting, photography, collage, and assemblage, abstract, surreal, conceptual and visionary.
She is a polymath who brings a broad range of experience to bear on her art: a lifetime of spiritual seeking, 35 years of meditative practice and mystical experience; studies in Vedanta, healing, pathology, biology, quantum physics and literature; work with the mentally ill and physically frail; travels in India; love of nature, gardening, hiking, kayaking, exploration of abandoned places; her intellect, wit, suffering, passion, joy and love. Lisa started to work as an artist later in life after struggling through several years of personal tragedy, during which she said that art was the only thing that made sense. Artistic expression became a spiritual imperative. With newfound purpose, she built her controversial Blue Studio in the historic district of Rhinebeck, learning and inventing carpentry skills along the way. The whimsical space, always an evolving work of art, is made largely from reclaimed materials and all variety of found objects used in unexpected ways. In this same way she explores her art, experimenting, inventing, discovering. Lisa’s work has been in numerous regional shows and is held in private collections in the U.S. and Europe. Lisa shares, "Art is a mystery to me. The impulse to create, the process of creation, the response to the created, all seem to involve both natural compulsions and laws, as well as a manifestation of a deep and ineffable force. The longing to understand and be part of this mystery is the motive of my work. |
This project is made possible with funds from the Decentralization Program, a regrant program of the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature and administered by Arts Mid-Hudson.
