Artist Rachel Buse’s apartment in Des Moines, Iowa, is a world all to its own. There are large paper mache body parts strewn about, sketches of sculptures in various stages of completion tacked to the wall and photographs she’s picked up from estate sales of people she’ll never meet.
Buse, a 2008 graduate of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, got her bachelor’s degree in studio art and since then has been sculpting in Des Moines, Iowa.
Buse took residence in Omaha last week to build a site-specific sculpture in the Gallery of Art & Design at Metropolitan Community College. The exhibit, called “In the Middle, Out” opens today with a lecture starting at 4 p.m.
Buse’s career has gained traction in the last year. Last summer, she did a TED talk, she’s launched an organization called Art Beacon in Des Moines that’s mission is to prevent passive response to artists, and her work was featured at The EYE Gallery in downtown Des Moines.
The show was called “The Inverted Mountain” and featured a gigantic mountain turned on its head as well as other work.
In this video, Buse explains how her art has evolved and what the show meant for her creative process. It also documents how she went about filling the gallery. She’s established a new way of approaching her art.
The soundtrack of the video is provided by the now departed Lincoln band Marianas.
Rachel Buse: The Inverted Mountain from Clayton Masters on Vimeo.
When I asked Buse what this latest installation looks like, she laughed.
“It’s purple,” she said.
She did go on to say it’s completely hand-dyed, composed of chicken wire, quilt matting and 70 feet of muslin. The project is supported by a grant from the Iowa Arts Council.
The Gallery of Art & Design is located at 204th and Dodge Street on the Elkhorn Valley Campus. The display will be up until April 6th.
Clay Masters is a public media journalist based at Iowa Public Radio in Des Moines.