“Nancy Farr Benigni’s installation at Kent State University at Stark’s Lemmon Visiting Artist Gallery is an altogether elegant articulation of a tactile metaphysic. Consider it a way of connecting to, touching, and remembering histories. Our present act of intentional, close scrutiny can itself be a mode of transport into a mesmerizing charm.”
Tom Wachunas
February 12, 2018
Statement
Emmerson described our senses as gateways from the outer world to the inner. He notes that the perception of nature fills us with feelings of wonder, awe, and delight. But perceptions are fleeting, felt intensely in the moment then fading into memory.
While hiking, I frequently stop to collect leaves and plant material which will ultimately be imprinted on cloth or paper as fossil forms. It may be the color and pattern of lichen on a decaying log, or the light on a winter day which will inspire vibrant, tactile surfaces through the creative processes of painting, weaving, printing, or stitching. My work is intended to evoke an interaction with the natural world and to transport one to a specific moment in time.