Originally from Philadelphia, PA, Mya Kerner is a multidisciplinary artist based in Seattle, WA. In 2011, she received a BFA in Interdisciplinary Sculpture and Environmental Design at the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, MD. From 2012 to 2014, Mya worked primarily in cast iron sculpture as an artist… Read More
Originally from Philadelphia, PA, Mya Kerner is a multidisciplinary artist based in Seattle, WA. In 2011, she received a BFA in Interdisciplinary Sculpture and Environmental Design at the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, MD. From 2012 to 2014, Mya worked primarily in cast iron sculpture as an artist in residence nationally at Sculpture Trails Outdoor Museum in Solsberry, IN and Sloss Furnaces in Birmingham, AL, and internationally as a visiting artist at Akademia Sztuk Pięknych in Gdańsk, Poland. After moving to Seattle in 2015, Mya completed a 14-month Certificate in Holistic Landscape Design at Bastyr University in Kenmore, WA. Since then, her art practice has been a response to her studies in permaculture. Currently, Mya works primarily in oil and graphite on panel, but continues an oscillation between two- and three- dimensions, exploring materiality, tradition, and mythology through depictions of the landscape. She has shown her work in England, Canada, Poland, Latvia, and, here, in the United States. Read Less
I regard the mountains as stoic icons reflected by mortality, records of the movements of the earth and the torrents of the sky. They represent a collision, or maybe, a collaboration of the elements and forces of life. Though continuously rising or falling, the mountains stand, silent, weighing on the shifting fra… Read More
I regard the mountains as stoic icons reflected by mortality, records of the movements of the earth and the torrents of the sky. They represent a collision, or maybe, a collaboration of the elements and forces of life. Though continuously rising or falling, the mountains stand, silent, weighing on the shifting fragments of the earth, moving at an incomprehensible rate. In this movement, we have forgotten that civilization is a construct, built from the pieces of deconstructed mythologies.
I am interested in the stories of the landscape. I wonder what memories the mountains hold, and what indefinable futures are foretold on our deaf ears. Records of denudation captivate me, as these notes present a segmented image of the whole. I depict geological disruptions, carved moments and parts within the landscape. Mountaintops stand crisp against a stark white, reaching for an infinite sky. Descending are scratched lines, which break through the slopes, while flecks of white dapple eroded surfaces, recalling cooler seasons. These finished pieces linger on the threshold of completion, for what memory is complete upon its conception?
I approach my white panels with turbulent, yet restrained mark making. Mixing oil paint above and across graphite marks, I soften or exaggerate the contours of the landscape. In some areas, the imagery holds stable, while across the scene, a moment of textural play denotes action, erosion or sliding. My wire drawings extrude the contours of the terrain, forming an interdependent framework waiting to be filled by the viewer. The work depicts a fragile, interconnected tranquility of nature, while whispering of unpredictability and grandeur far beyond human conception or control. Read Less
