On view: September 8 – December 8, 2023 in the O’Bleness Gallery
Topographies is a series of abstract paintings on fabric inspired by landscapes and geological forms. Unstretched and suspended, the paintings reside somewhere between painting and object, encouraging the viewer to interact with the work within the gallery space. Signature devices such as patterns and bright and contrasting color combinations construct both physical and psychological spaces on an impressive scale.
From the museum’s View magazine:
Natalie Lanese and Andrea Myers are teaming up for this endeavor, each harnessing their dramatic use of color and scale to turn ordinary walls and floors into an unforgettable environment for visitors to enjoy. While Myers typically works in fabric and Lanese in paint, they’ll combine techniques and materials in this exhibition.
United by bold color and pattern, the installation promises to be a feast for the eyes. In discussing her work, Myers describes how “zigzags of fabric brushstrokes pulse on and off the wall, building a soft geometry, transcending the original form and function of the fabric. The density of patterning stretches across surfaces, suggesting expansive views of imagined waterways, skyscapes, and erosions, striations, or something and somewhere in between.”
This complements Lanese’s processes and techniques. “I make abstract geometric paintings and installations inspired by landforms and rock formations that, combined with dizzying color contrasts, play with perception of shallow space,” she explains. “Relying on repetition, line, scale shifts, and collage techniques to push and pull the picture plane, the resulting image manipulates and challenges spatial expectations.” Myers lives and works out of Columbus, while Lanese lives and works in Cleveland.
The Emily Davis Gallery at Myers School of Art, The University of Akron, is pleased to present Spectrum: The Art of Eleanor Anderson, Joe Lanzilotta, and Natalie Lanese, on view through April 14, 2023. Join us for a last look at both Spectrum and Umbra: A Breakup Story by Priscilla Moreno on April 13 from 5:00–7:00 p.m. with an artist panel discussion at 6:00 p.m.
In September, I completed a large-scale public painting in the Clark-Fulton neighborhood of Cleveland, OH. “Glacier Caves” spans the south-facing wall of 2998 W. 25th Street, a massive building that is home to Pupuseria y Antojitos Guanaquitas and Late Nite Records, and stands tall at the intersection at Walton Avenue. It is the largest painting I’ve made to date. Cleveland Scene asked me a few questions about it and you can read the article here.
This project was made possible by LAND Studio and Metro West Community Development Organization. Special thanks to Susie Underwood for all the legwork!
Photo by Shawn Mishak
After being postponed for 2+ years, I am so happy to finally be in residence at Vermont Studio Center for four weeks this summer. This first week has been a productive one, and an excellent reminder of how important it is to occasionally step away from daily routines and surroundings. With 20 visual artists and writers, I am enjoying rich discussion, seeing others’ work, and learning from everyone here. Many thanks to the Ohio Arts Council for making this experience possible.
I’m happy to be included in the group exhibition, Messin’ With You, curated by Liz Maugins, at Yards Projects, July 7 - August 20, 2022.
From the Yards Projects website:
“I can’t stand art actually. I’ve never, ever liked art.” said mixed media artist David Hammons, and when asked, then why do you make it? His response was “...Because art is about symbols and outrageously magical things that happen when you mess around with a symbol.”
The line-up of artists in Messin’ with You play to the spirit of Hammons, where the origins of their work arise from found and unexpected non-art materials or a deviation of unorthodox preconceptions of it being art in the first place. The work in this exhibition features mathematical objects and operations including impossible realities, explorations of infinity, tesselations, optic trickery and other conceptual shenanigans.
The artists in this exhibition prefer the scientist-meets-tinkerer aesthetic with a side order of folly, mind-bending and risk-taking as part of their practice. All of these artists test things out in a combination of playfulness, irreverence, and gutsiness simultaneously employing a wit and curiosity that asks WHAT IF?
We are thrilled to celebrate the work of Dana Depew, Michelle Droll, Natalie Lanese, Shannon Morris, Steve & Debbie Presser, Ed Raffel, Stephen Tornero, Anderson Turner, Gregory Scott, Gwen Waight, and Tony Williams.
In February, the Akron Art Museum hosted a weekly virtual event featuring local artists, musicians and businesses. I was honored to be selected as an artist feature for this event.
KA Letts reviewed the exhibition in the Winter Quarter 2021 issue of New Art Examiner. Read it here.
I’m pleased to present Paint Piles, a solo exhibition of new work now on view at River House Arts in downtown Toledo, OH. This body of work is comprised of paintings, drawings, prints, and sculptural work created in late 2020 and early 2021. As a dear friend noted, the work has a “hard won” feeling to it. And isn’t this the truth. It’s been a heck of a year and this work is the result of several months in the studio during a time of isolation and general strangeness. As I wrote in an instagram announcement:
“In these various formats, the works represent a pile up: of material on a surface and—now I see it—the emotional burdens of the past year. Accumulations of worry and heaviness have hung in my thoughts and processes and have resulted in heavily textured surfaces, imagery resembling heaps or bundles, and nonstop repetition….it’s still very bright and cheery, it might just feel like the big hug we all need so much right now.”
Paint Piles is on view through March 27, 2021.
I’m pleased to announce that my work has been selected for Paper Routes: Women to Watch 2020 - Ohio at the Ohio Arts Council’s Riffe Gallery. Complete information about the show and its programming can be found on the gallery’s website.
In collaboration with the Ohio Advisory Group of the National Museum of Women in the Arts, Riffe Gallery presents Paper Routes: Women to Watch 2020 – Ohio, July 30 – October 17, 2020. The National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA) in Washington D.C. is the world’s only museum solely dedicated to celebrating the creative accomplishments of women. With its collections, exhibitions, programs, and online content, NMWA champions women in the arts and advocates for equity. As the exclusive affiliate of the Women’s Museum in Ohio, the Ohio Advisory Group (OAG) of NMWA extends the mission by showcasing women’s contributions to Ohio’s rich cultural landscape. The founding members of the OAG are distinguished women leaders in the region who share a passion for the arts and/or advocacy for women. The exhibition was curated by Matt Distel and Stephanie Rond.
Featured artists include Kristine Elizabeth Donnelly, ¡Katie B Funk!, Sydney Joslin-Knapp, Sarah Kabot, Natalie Lanese, Charlotte McGraw, Emily Moores, Susan Li O’Connor, Alice Pixley Young, Sa’dia Rehman, Carmen Romine, Adrienne Slane, and Breanne Trammell.
I’m thrilled to announce that after 15 years away, I’m returning to my hometown of Cleveland this month. In addition to being closer to my family and many friends, I’m looking forward to building deeper relationships in the art community. For the first time since graduate school, I’ll have a studio outside of my home. My workspace at the Screw Factory is the perfect space for growth and connection in my new home, and I couldn’t be more excited to get to work there.
In February, I was invited by Nate Berkus (!!!) to collaborate on two window displays he was creating for Gordon Ramsay’s 24 Hours To Hell & Back: Save Our Town in Ellicott City, MD. It was an honor to have a role in revitalizing these storefronts that were destroyed by floods in 2016 and 2018, and give back to this beautiful and resilient town alongside these generous superstars!
I had a ball working with Nate for a few days, finding some common ground in our aesthetics to create two paintings for the historic Shoemaker Country store windows in Ellicott City, MD. Below are images of the design and installation, including two final painting concepts with a handsome, happy palette we selected from Benjamin Moore.
I am honored to be named as one of this year’s 20 Under 40 Leadership Award recipients. The award recognizes individuals under 40 who demonstrate leadership in the community and professionally. I was unable to attend the ceremony and was completely shocked to learn that I was named. I share this honor with Toledo’s art community, and I’m proud that the committee selected an artist among the group of winners. Thank you to Sarah Skow for nominating me and to the jury for selecting me, just in time to make the “under 40” cut.
I couldn’t imagine a more fitting image of me accepting my award 😂
I spent the months of September and October at Yaddo in Saratoga Springs, NY, and at SÍM Residency in Reykjavik, Iceland. Both opportunities provided uninterrupted time to focus on creating new work in the studio.
The Arts Commission and the Accelerator Grant Program provided partial funding for residency fees in Iceland, making this opportunity possible. Big thanks to ProMedica, the Ohio Arts Council, the National Endowment for the Arts and other generous donors for your ongoing support of artists!
Stripes, 2019, one of two designs by Natalie Lanese. Photo: Feinknopf Photography
From The Arts Commision’s website:
Last year, the Arts Commission worked with the Ohio Department of Transportation and lighting contractors HLB, to commission lighting sequences from local artists to be added to the schedule of the newly upgraded lighting system on the Veteran’s Glass City Skyway. All of the selected artists are local to Toledo and include Brien Strancar, Natalie Lanese, Gail Christofferson, Imani Lateef and Anthony McCarty. Twelve total designs were developed for the bridge. The designs debuted this summer and rotate nightly with special shows for patriotic holidays, highway safety week and other days of significance.
Support your local distillers who support local artists! Treat yourself to a tasty cocktail and a tour of the facility, and catch a glimpse of my new installation in the production room (behind the bar).
Bellwether Bar at Toledo Spirits
1301 N. Summit Street, Toledo, OH
From June 2018 - May 2019, I worked with Graphite Design + Build, overseeing all exhibit painting for the Promedica Museum of Natural History at the Toledo Zoo. With Rose Wang, Elizabeth Padgett, and Jordan Buschur, our team of painters completed 16 scenic landscapes for the dioramas of the lower level of the museum and for three live exhibits upstairs. The Museum was dedicated on May 31, 2019 and is open to the public every day.
I’m so pleased to have my work on view at two local galleries this summer! Both exhibits open in June.
Opening June 7 at Fuller Art House in Sylvania, OH:
Life as a Tapestry exhibits four amazing women - Cary Okoro, Natalie Lanese, Dani Herrera, and Meridith Ridl -showcasing their unique style and artistic patterns through repetition, fun layers and echoed themes. Exhibit opens at 6pm during the First Friday Art Walk in downtown, Sylvania and is on view through July 24.
Opening June 15 at River House Arts:
Agency II
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Jordan Buschur
Nikki Eggerstorfer
Trisha Holt
Natalie Lanese
Crystal Phelps
Lindsay Scypta
Jessica Tenbusch
“Encompassing a range of mediums and voices, Agency brings together the work of artists, performers, activists and educators. United in a desire for community and critical dialogue, this exhibition is a physical expression of the variety of modes of making and thinking present in our group. We come together monthly for conversation and critique, with the aim of supporting each other's work, building our relationships and strengthening the artist community in Toledo. Agency is our way of making it happen, here, by our own volition. “
Image Detail: @trishaholt
A Magnitude, C-PRINT
This spring I had the pleasure of collaborating with all-star sculptor Ken Thompson on a piece that will be on view in the John D. Wittershiem Memorial Sculpture Park at Siena Heights University through the spring of 2020.
Dazzle Panels, 2019, steel and paint, approx. 6’ tall
In February, I was honored to be joined by family, friends, and others at the dedication of The Dazzle Colonnade, a 3200 square foot public art installation completed in the Depot Garage at Promedica Headquarters in downtown Toledo, Ohio last fall.
