thestarlighthotel:

Visiting Mari Andrews’s Emeryville studio is like stepping into an old-world apothecary’s shop, where rows and rows of small glass jars are filled with specimens gathered on her hikes through Muir Woods, Point Reyes, and beyond: molted snakeskins, seedpods, smooth-surfaced stones, rusted bits of wire, tufts of moss, and more. “I grew up in Ohio, on the outskirts of suburbia, right at the edge, where things turn rural and wild. I was outdoors a lot, and have been collecting natural objects since I was a kid.” Andrews has lived and worked in this armory of marvels –part of the 45th Street Artists’ Cooperative–since 1996, making sculptural work that evolved out of years of drawing and obsessive collecting. Though drawing is no longer her focus, she uses linear materials like wire and branches to mimic the look of hand-drawn lines in her sculptures. Combining both man made and natural materials, her three-dimensional sculptures come together to create a series of primitive, but elegant symbols that conjure cave drawings or a forgotten language. Mari’s work and studio make you encounter overlooked objects in a newly intimate way; a dried leaf or fallen acorn become dazzling when seen out of context and leave you a little more curious, a little more awake to the natural world, than when you arrived.

The rest of the article (and more photos) here.