About the exhibition:

Altered Terrain: Changes & Consequences uses a language of images that tell stories of human changes in the earthly landscapes we call our home. Thinking like a surrealist/biologist/up-cycler, Luckett pairs light bulbs with jawbones, forks with planet Earth, rubber duckies and live ducks, and sextants with tractor shovel loaders to name a few. Although seemingly unrelated to each other, these pairs reflect the increasing impact of humankind upon Earth’s living biospheres. Like Magritte, who paints "the apparent visible and the hidden visible--which, in nature are never separated," Luckett’s work points to the invisible hiding within the visible changing landscape.

Luckett’s works are built around these real, yet symbolic objects or repetitions of a single object. In many, a large figure dominates and tells a story of humankind’s casual abandonment of the living home we call Nature in favor of alternative “paradises”: consumptive life styles, extractive economies, and rising energy use.

A finely honed technique and a strong concern for the environment pair up with a personality characterized by a questioning bent and a sense of humor to form these story pictures; metaphorical tales of the American landscape and our disconnects/connections to it. The fun for me is in trying out unusual combinations of forms and solving the mysteries of the links between them. I hope viewers can connect the dots between apparently unseen causes and the seen effects which we are now experiencing in the wake of spiking temperatures, endangered species, worldwide wildfires, and ravaging storms.

About the artist:

Born in Idaho farmland, Rosemary Luckett graduated with a biology degree from Saint Mary College, Leavenworth KS before marrying and moving to Virginia, where she studied art while rearing three children. In addition to maintaining a teaching studio in Occoquan VA, she taught collage and sculpture at The Art League School, Alexandria VA for 20 years. Some of her teachers were Jennie Lea Knight, Anne Truitt, Dan Weldon, Lee Haner, and Hank Harmen.

After many years as a painter, Luckett began using small collages and paintings as springboards to larger wood and found objects assemblages and sculptures. These reveal her interest in archetypal portrayals, gender bias issues, and the feminine face of the divine. Luckett has created several series of complex drawings and mixed media portraits. In 1998 Sheed & Ward published her Crosses and Prayers, a small book of poems and images. More recently she has documented each series with companion poems in self-published books. Luckett’s most recent work explores relationships between humans and other living creatures. Ink, paint, and collage compositions reveal a reality that goes beyond the natural world as we ordinarily perceive it, through atypical juxtapositions of its various elements. In 2018 Luckett relocated her home and studio to Wilmington DE where she added gardening to her artful repertoire.