Brian Schorn: Iowa Lakeside Lab Artist Residency
During the spring and summer of 2017, Brian Schorn (MFA 1987) was an Artist-in-Residence at Iowa Lakeside Laboratory in Milford, Iowa. Located in northwest Iowa’s Great Lakes region, Lakeside Lab is a biological field station and nature preserve that offers college science courses, children’s summer camps and a variety of ecology-minded community events. As an Artist-in-Residence, Brian attended field courses in ecology, ornithology and freshwater algae while being mentored by a variety of scientists. These experiences directly influenced Brian’s studio activity, resulting in a new body of 3‑D wall assemblages based on his field research and collection of natural/found materials. Each week was extensively documented with a reflective essay and numerous images that can be viewed at http://lakesidelabair.org/.
At the end of the summer, the work from his residency was displayed in a four-person exhibition at Crooked Tree Arts Center in Traverse City, Michigan called “Practice, Rhythm, and Ritual: Meditative Minimalism.” Brian has been invited to return to Iowa Lakeside Lab in the spring of 2018 to teach an eco-art college course and continue his studio art practice.