They Were as Numerous as Grass
Lynne Allen’s work has been exhibited widely nationally and internationally and is included in collections at the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Museum of Modern Art Library, the New York Public Library, New York; the Corcoran Gallery of Art, the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C and the Victoria & Albert Museum, London, among others. Selected exhibition venues include the Whitney Museum of American Art, The North Dakota Museum of Art, The Victoria and Albert Museum, London, The Virginia Museum of Fine Art, as well as international exhibitions in the Guanlan China Biennial (juror in 2019); the International Printmaking Biennial of Douro, Portugal; The Novosibirsk Print Biennial, Russia; and the International Print Triennial, Tallinn, Estonia. Artist residencies include Senezh House of Artists, USSR; the Guanlan Printmaking Base, China; Caversham Press, Kwa Zulu Natal, South Africa; Grafikenshuis, Mariefred, Sweden; the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, VA; Byrdcliffe Artist Residency, NY, as well as artist workshops/lectures abroad (Iceland, Poland, Denmark, China, Slovenia, South Africa, Russia, Sweden).
Honors include two Fulbright Scholarships (USSR 1990, Jordan 2004-05), two Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Research Grants, a New Jersey State Council on the Arts Grant, and a Pennsylvania Council on the Arts Grant, Diploma Award Tallinn International Print Biennial, and a Prilla Smith Brackett Award finalist.
Allen holds a Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of New Mexico and a Master of Art for Teachers from the University of Washington. Lynne previously served as Director of the School of Visual Art (2006-15) and as Dean ad interim of the Boston University College of Fine Arts (2015-17). Prior to coming to Boston University, she was Professor of Art at Rutgers University, Director of the Brodsky Center (formerly the Rutgers Center for Innovative Print and Paper), and Master Printer and Educational Director at Tamarind Institute.
STATEMENT
My art making is a love affair with the forsaken. In material, this means the use of discarded remnants of culture, like rusted bottlecaps, fish hooks, lead sinkers and old moving blankets. It also embraces neglected traditions, such as the use of embroidery, beading, and woven porcupine quills. Taking center stage, my subjects are those whom history would rather leave out: animals that have become extinct, Native traditions, the homeless, prisoners, and myths about how the west was won.
My art making is a love affair with the forsaken. In material, this means the use of discarded remnants of culture, like rusted bottlecaps, fish hooks, lead sinkers and old moving blankets. It also embraces neglected traditions, such as the use of embroidery, beading, and woven porcupine quills. Taking center stage, my subjects are those whom history would rather leave out: animals that have become extinct, Native traditions, the homeless, prisoners, and myths about how the west was won.
My subjects act in concert with a variety of non-traditional players. Sculptures include Native American text woven into arrow bags, moccasins, and wall hangings. Bullet casings, flattened bottlecaps and fish hooks may stud the surfaces in conversation with beading or embroidery. Prints usually embrace a variety of techniques including etching, woodcut, and lithography in sizes from the intimate to very large. They aim to tell the stories of animals, the unloved, and victims of injustice.
The matriarchs in my family have all been members of the Standing Rock Indian Reservation in South Dakota. I can trace my Native heritage back six generations to Wastewin (Good Women) in the early 1800’s. As a visual artist I incorporate the passions that drive me personally into a bigger reality—the world is full of threats and rewritten histories. Here, I question history as it has been written by the victors. I seek the voices of those who were left out, with the goal of creating a space where the viewer has a chance to imagine a world other than their own.
They Came by Ship
The Fort
Threatened
Keep