Refugia: the Seasonal Pond Project
Kristen Anderson, Textile Artist
The exhibit consists of felt tapestries by fiber artist, Kristen Anderson and a responsive poem by writers Loree Miltich and Susan Hawkinson.
RECEPTION: October 3, 5 – 7pm
ARTIST PRESENTATION at 5:30pm (NOTE new winter presentation time)
EXHIBIT: October 3 – January 30, 2026
WORKSHOP: October 25 “A Closer Look at Wooded Wetlands” →
Artist Website: cardamomstudio.org
Additional activities with Kristen Anderson:
- NOV 22 Adults: Woods and Water: Small Felt Tapestries Inspired by Seasonal Ponds →
- NOV 20 Kids: Floral Felts: Marsh Marigold Felted Flowers →
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Just as pockets of rich memory may emerge amid a human mind in cognitive decline, remnants of ecosystem diversity that retain resilience amid changing conditions are referred to as ecological “refugia”. Anderson uses tapestries, poems and vignettes to illustrate this comparison. All pieces have neurons that “reside” in the tapestries, complementing the landscapes and creatures.
Artist Statement
In northern Minnesota, our ecological refugia are our wetland areas and, in particular, seasonal ponds (often referred to as vernal pools).
These are the small, isolated, and fishless wetland areas, often occurring in upland forests. They are home to a host of species who have unique adaptations specific to these waters.
The life teeming in these seemingly benign ponds is essential to the wetland’s role as “kidneys of the forests” as well as a nursery area to much of the forest food web consumers.
Like a mind that is experiencing the roadblocks of disease, the seasonal ponds are at great risk due to weakened wetland laws, development, and a changing climate.
As an artist, creating the Refugia series is about finding a path forward to cope with difficult and emerging circumstances, both personally and environmentally. It is about learning to relate as a caregiver to both a special ecosystem and to a changing person.
The connections begin with witness, grow with listening and learning,, are sustained by reciprocity and love. In Refugia, the intent is to honor what remains.
ARTIST BIO
Kristen Anderson is a visual artist working in felt at her Bigfork, MN studio. With a background in biology and art, she approaches her work with an ecological lens and often creates felt to represent her studies. She partners with the scientific community to develop work, which has even included processing (rolling) large-scale felts together. She enjoys infusing her enthusiasm for the natural world and feltmaking through classes and individual or group shows, primarily in northern Minnesota.
POET BIO
Susan Hawkinson is a retired Itasca Community College (Itasca Campus-Minnesota North College) instructor. She taught English at ICC from 1979-2008. In 2003, her co-authored book, Timber Connections: The Joyce Lumber Story, a Minnesota Book Award nominee, was published. In 2013, she published her poetic narrative, Tina Christina Sestina; and, in 2023, her novel for upper elementary school students, The Adventures of Annie McCallum, a Midwest Book Award winner. Currently she is adapting her novel, Annie McCallum, for the stage, which hopefully will be performed sometime in the future.
POET BIO
Loree Miltich has written ekphrastic poetry responding to art created by Gendron Jensen (published in The Georgia Review) and Vernal Bogren-Swift (exhibited at the Tweed Museum of Art and the Talley Gallery). She has collaborated with Susan Hawkinson writing “double-voiced” poems (which can be read both vertically and horizontally across the two voices) responding to visual art by Jackie Solem, Elizabeth Blair and now, with Kristen Anderson informed by Sue Eggert’s scientific expertise on seasonal ponds. She lives north of Grand Rapids.
