AGOG is very pleased to welcome Kathryn Cooke to the Art Gallery of Golden for her solo exhibit "Lunar Landings."

Kathryn writes:

The stories told in this series, Lunar Landings, were first inspired by the first full moon of Aug. 2023, the Sturgeon Moon. A second full moon, the Blue Supermoon, arose Aug. 30, 2023. Those two moons held my attention and the narratives that I depict in this series unfolded from my subsequent lunar research and imagination. The moon is a variable constant. Its predictability makes it a time piece of sorts, used to chart cycles. Attending to the moon harkens back to days when we were more connected to the earth and the celestial bodies; when we took the time to look up and when passings of the seasons and the cycles of earth’s creatures were noted in the naming of the moons. In this series I was interested in exploring relationships between the moon and the natural world- both real and imagined. My more-than-human neighbours in the Columbia River Wetlands became subjects of several narratives. I’ve also followed the story of the dwindling numbers of Woodland Mountain Caribou in British Columbia and Alberta. In both provinces, nurseries have been built in hopes of developing successful breeding programs. Wild Caribou are now enclosed to produce offspring. I imagine a wild Caribou mother courageously plowing through deep snow, heavy with her calf which is soon to be born. She carries the moon to light her way. In the artwork of Lunar Landings, I play with visual perception and take artistic freedoms to present magical realism while asking how the moon influences the lives of creatures and natural events. Let us look up and marvel at the ancient universe. Let us take delight in our capacity to imagine as not only is this a joyful experience, but it can also help to illuminate new ways of being. Thank you for your time and care as you view the stories I present in Lunar Landings.