We Are But One Thread

Lillian Nelson, 2019

Drawing inspiration from the power of visual narrative, I strive to tell a story in one single glance. Whether inspired by current social issues or a classic fairy tale, I create scenes of both beauty and unease, exploring juxtapositions of the mind, and its effects on our outward actions and ramifications. The piecing together of the wood is aesthetic, but also a physical metaphor for telling a story: thoughts and scenes, fragments of memory, colliding characters, are all separate entities which merge the tale together. By breaking format, the image is unconstrained and coming at the viewer in a three-dimensional way, making the piece feel more interactive, like its creeping out into our regular, humdrum reality. Working on surface of raw wood yields a similar process to watercolors, yet with more nuances and challenges. By using the wood’s original grain to full effect, each painting evokes an intimate feel, a perfect balance and dance between the natural beauty of the wood and the formulated brushstrokes. I also work as a muralist which allows me a bigger canvas, once again breaking out and spreading across an uneven surface. Murals are beautiful for the fact that they force the passerby to step into the artist’s inner world and intrude upon the viewers reality, even for a moment.

**City sponsored public art funded by the Percent for Art Program and a part of the art collection of the City of Missoula**

Located at the Van Buren and I-90 Interchange