Understory/Overstory

In the fall of 2015, I was offered the opportunity to propose an exhibition for the Missoula Art Museum. Between the spring of 2016 and fall of 2018, I created a large built-environment and ceramic bird installation for an exhibit entitled Understory/Overstory. It was on display in the Museum’s Aresty Gallery from August 23, 2018 Through Jan 12, 2019.
The museum has produced a beautiful catalog for this show including an essay written by Brandon Reintjes.
A 360 degree view of Understory/Overstory made by Slikati Photo and Video is here. We also made a two minute video walk-through of the installation.
This 360 degree view of Understory/Overstory was made by Slikati Photo and Video .

A 2nd iteration of the exhibition was at the Holter Museum of Art from July 5 through December 31, 2019. I had the opportunity to collaborate with my sister Dreya and local dancers from Helena on a remarkable theatrical performance inside the exibition. I gave a gallery talk about the show at the Holter Museum. Jeanie Warden, a videographer with Helena Civic Television, generously shared her footage.

I have been making hundreds of ceramic birds each year for the last ten years. What has evolved from this process is a formal expression of the concept of “bird” that is not species-specific but archetypal. As objects, birds serve as metaphors for a wide range of human needs and emotions: aspiration and serenity, nesting and flight, fragility and freedom, community and solitude. We read desire in wishbones, rebirth in eggs, and nostalgia in birdsong. Each of my ceramic birds is a glazed surface inviting individual interpretation and meditation.

The 1929 Migratory Bird Act prohibits the use of most bird-related biological artifacts. These settings are not intended to be representational. Rather, they are extensions of a metaphorical approach to birds, nests, and trees functioning as symbolic canvases for the viewer’s ideas.

Questions? Call or Text me at 406-683-5493 or email at cw@cathyweber.net

View or Download (PDF) the catalog from Understory/Overstory.