‘Retrospective’ creates sense of place in Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest

Artist Ruth Lull sees the forest for the trees in her new exhibit, “Retrospective,” at Northland College.

Lull, associate professor of art at Northland, highlights artwork inspired by the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest in her latest exhibit at the Dexter Library on campus. A public reception runs 4-6 p.m. today. All proceeds benefit Northland College.

The exhibit will be on display through September 30 and can be viewed online at www.northland.edu/lull.

Lull has long celebrated themes of nature, changing seasons and weather phenomena in her artwork. She portrays natural settings in a variety of forms ranging from pastel drawings to oil paintings.

“I see in a blank canvas an opportunity to monumentalize small objects from my natural environment,” states Lull on her website. “I take a ‘myopic’ approach, observing their intimate details close at hand. I will exaggerate a bit because I want to celebrate those details … to draw attention to a superior design aesthetic found in nature.”

Lull’s artwork has been displayed in more than 15 exhibits over the course of her career, including at the Pleiades Gallery in New York, Hagoromo Gakuen Junior College in Sakai, Osaka Perfecture, Japan, and Galleria Mazzuchelli in Florence, Italy. Lull hopes to achieve a sense of place in all her paintings and reflect the unique nature of the Lake Superior area.

The Northland College Alumni Association will present Lull with a Distinguished Service Award at the association’s annual awards banquet on Saturday evening. Lull received a bachelor’s degree from Barat College in Lake Forest, Ill. She obtained a master’s degree in Studio Arts from Villa Schifanoia Graduate School of Fine Arts in Florence, Italy. Lull also went on to obtain a second master’s degree in Art History at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst.

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