Lin Emery, Isis, 2016. Aluminum and mixed media, 55 ¾ x 33 x 36 inches. Courtesy of the artist and Arthur Roger Gallery, New Orleans.
Lin Emery: A Force of Nature opened at the Louisiana Art & Science Museum in September, offering Baton Rouge audiences a look at some little-known works by the sculptor whose distinctive constructions dot museums and outdoor spaces across the region and the world. The exhibit was assembled by Elizabeth Weinstein, Assistant Director for Interpretation & Chief Curator, whose own vision for how best to display Emery’s work makes A Force of Nature a cultural event no one should miss.
Lin Emery is rightly considered a pioneer of kinetic art, but it took her a certain amount of time to discover just how she wanted her work to move. Her best-known works reflect what the artist thinks of as her mature style, the instantly recognizable polished-aluminum forms, marrying the gentle lines and curves of nature with industrial precision and moving through wind action. Weinstein wanted to show the process of how Emery arrived at this style, and so A Force of Nature displays rarely-seen early works driven by water and, in two charming table-top-sized examples, internal magnets attached to concealed, rotating motors. According to Weinstein, Emery, though a very gracious artist to work with, was surprised that Weinstein wanted to display her early work. The curator’s instincts are correct; the smaller-scale magnet sculptures charm in a way her striking later-career pieces can’t while still foreshadowing the grandeur of Emery’s later career.
Emery’s deftly engineered works operate at the intersection of art and science on which the museum has made its reputation. Weinstein ensures that the scientific aspect of Emery’s works is also represented. In her words, Emery doesn’t draw on paper, but in air, creating small, light models as the first step in her creative process. A Force of Nature displays models, diagrams, and in-progress samples that show how the sculptor and her assistants turn sheets of industrial aluminum into the eye-catching monuments that, with any luck, will endure to confuse whatever species succeeds us as masters of the planet.
Weinstein also snagged some lesser-known treasures, work adjacent to the established Emery mystique but showing different sides of the sculptor. Head upstairs to see Isis, an abstract rendition of the Egyptian goddess bearing a red disc that marks one of the few uses of color in the colorblind Emery’s oeuvre, made all the more striking by its rarity. Shadow Wall, rarely exhibited because of its daunting 8’x12’ dimensions, plays with slowly moving metal pipes that seem to interlock with their own shadows. A particular treat is the alcove containing more interactive, theatrical work. Guests are invited to play the tubular bells and press buttons that activate the flower drum and open a Bosch-inspired mouth of Hell. Weinstein’s inclusion of these whimsical, even eccentric pieces deepens visitors’ understanding of the artist; the woman we admire from her other work becomes someone we’d also like to meet.
After you visit the Louisiana Art & Science Museum for this exhibit, you’ll have no doubt that Lin Emery is indeed a force of nature—but she’s not the only woman in the South Louisiana art community who is.
Read more about Lin Emery in this month's Perspectives.
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