Bonnie Loukus: Liminal Sanctuaries

HANCOCK, Michigan – Existing between different spaces while not fully belonging to one or the other is something many people experience. What does it mean to belong and how do we know when we do belong? Liminal Sanctuaries, a new exhibition by Michigan artist Bonnie Loukus, features oil paintings of solitary animals and forest floor ecosystems, in between reality and some incorporeal place where they exist without human interference. The exhibit opens with a reception at Finlandia Art Gallery on Thursday, April 23 at 7pm and will be on display through June 10.

Bonnie Loukus is a Keweenaw-based multidisciplinary artist practicing oil painting, printmaking, letterpress, and book arts. Her work explores themes such as the intrinsic value of animals, plant diversity, small ecosystems, symbolism, incorporeal life, and solitude. “Being a multidisciplinary artist, this focus on painting has been a chance to explore my own liminality through observing animals, plants, and fungi to the point of sonder while researching symbolism, poetry, and color,” she said.

The paintings in the exhibit transport the viewer into what feels like a different world. “This work is a glimpse into something we won’t quite ever have being human, with the closest possibility of understanding this only achieved by spending time alone in the natural world,” Loukus explained. “My hope is that this work also conveys that space between contemplative solitude and the desire to connect.”

Loukus was born in Laurium, Michigan. She is a Finlandia University graduate who majored in an interdisciplinary honors program that focused on the connection of arts, culture, and the environment. During the brief Upper Michigan summers, with their long days and good light, she focuses on painting, sometimes painting at the family’s Finnish homestead, overlooking former potato fields and cow pastures where her father now “makes hay.”  When the days become short and dark, she turns her practice to printmaking, spending the evenings carving linoleum blocks.

Her work is part of US and international collections and recent artist residencies have taken her to Estonia, Isle Royale National Park, and Keweenaw Land Trust’s Silver Island. She is the executive director of the Copper Country Community Arts Center in Hancock. Loukus continues to enjoy living on a beautiful and remote peninsula in Lake Superior while visiting Finland and Estonia as often as possible to connect with contemporary art, heritage, and the land.

A reception for the artist will take place at Finlandia Art Gallery in Hancock on Thursday, April 23 from 7-8:30 p.m. with an artist talk beginning at 7:20 p.m. For more information, call 906-370-3722 or visit www.finlandiaartgallery.com.