MEG HOLGATE

Published in Cascadia Daily News, March 24, 2022 By Stephen Hunter

Review: ‘A Precarious Edge’ at MoNA
Eco-conscious exhibit deserves a closer look

Global warming may be destroying the habitability of Earth. The recognition of this truth informs “A Precarious Edge,” an exhibit of works by two distinguished La Conner artists at the Museum of Northwest Art (MoNA) that summons viewers to a profound introspection. 

Steve Klein was trained in hot-glass sculpture at the world-famous Pilchuck Glass School in Stanwood. His artistic vision was influenced by the leading 20th century modern painters, including Richard Diebenkorn, Piet Mondrian, Joan Miro and Jackson Pollock. He’s taught his personal technique at workshops in the United States, Europe and China, seeking “control during the construction, losing control while the piece is in the kiln, (then) cold-working to bring both forces to a resolved piece.” 

In the entryway of MoNA, Klein places a semi-circle of eight works, captioned “Glacier,” intended to illustrate the withering of glacial ice from 1950 to 2020. The next gallery is dominated by a large installation of silk-screen painted glass works entitled “Forest” (2021). Here, sylvan scenes transition into scorched remnants — brown and black stumps. 

All of the artwork is for sale. One of Klein’s “Shelter” series might tempt you — #42 is radiant, curved and brilliant in red, yellow and blue. “Shelter” #40 is complex, intriguing in two shades of green, ribbed glass, partly translucent. “Shelter” #39, in striking red and blue, offers a view of industrial smokestacks. Linger a moment with “Shelter” #43 so as not to miss a handshake between two industrialists — with an offshore oil rig in the background. Will future generations see them in the same light we remember Nazi death camps? 

Another Klein glasswork invites us to contemplate the ocean — where all the world’s trash accumulates. (Don’t remove the trash. It’s part of the show!) 

Meanwhile, Meg Holgate — an uncompromising abstract impressionist — gives us a generous selection of beautiful, sometimes mysterious, paintings: “Glacial,” oil on canvas, is a lovely, sweeping work. A pair of white monoliths faintly brushed with violet, yellow, rose and green kiss before an inky, feminine void. 

Meg Holgate's oil on canvas painting, "Glacial," evokes a pair of white monoliths faintly brushed with violet, yellow, rose and green. (Photo courtesy of the Museum of Northwest Art)

Other oil paintings continue the mystery. In “Iceberg,” a shape — white, tinged with rose — rises from darkness. It has a sharp, geometric edge and a ghostlike face. Nearby is “Disappearing,” in which a halo above blackness enhances the void, even as a fleeting reflection on the black ocean beneath suggests a visual memory. 

“Fastwater” (mixed media on paper) is a vast and arresting work in midnight-blue and white. It carries away the viewer in a realistic impression of a swift current; take it from me — I’ve been both above and beneath fast-running waters. 

A beautiful interlude to Holgate’s powerful monochromes is in her mixed-media “Tree Ring” series: “Tree Ring 2 (red)” is a meticulous evocation of a cut redwood log. Are the ones on either side, faintly traced, spirits of redwoods past? Red, again, is “Red Tide Hot Wave.” Imagine a crimson wave bursting into white steam. Seven red-splashed sardine cans underline the message in “Sardine cans,” painted in 2021. 

Holgate’s other large canvases explore the drama of light against dark, some with crystalline shapes above a void. All are evocative. But I am snared by the memory of “Net,” a 2015 mixed-media work on canvas. Is it merely a shining snare flung against the darkness or does behind it lurk a haunting face — perhaps our own face, caught in a net of our own construction, from which there may be no escape? 

“A Precarious Edge” shows from 10 a.m. through 5 p.m daily through May 15 at the Museum of Northwest Art, 121 S. First St., La Conner. Entry is free and open to all. Info: monamuseum.org