Lauren McKinley Renzetti
Making . Is. Important.
accomplished Toronto visual artist, scenic painter, teacher & curator
The Hegelian Seed Collections: Seeds of a Future and Seeds of Extinction are a commentary on choices.
The collection, named after G.W.F. Hegel1 because of his belief in absolute idealism. If we follow his three steps – study the nature of our society and acknowledge what should be removed and become extinct and what should remain and be encouraged to Nurture and Flourish, we will not only be looking at Society but taking necessary steps to Change Our Society.
The collection and nature with which it is presented is indicative of the cabinets of curiosities so popular at the turn of the 19th century. The artist is looking down on society, is passing judgment, and hoping that these collections through time become a curiosity that our children and future generations can say “How quant, remember when there was genocide, malnutrition, war… we were such heathens… So glad we stopped that.”
Ironically no seed can grow in an airtight box with no sun, water, nutrients and a pin through it. This is a perfect environment for seeds of extinction to wither and petrify. This does not hold true for the seeds of the future but hopefully they are plentiful and so common that they never move to the endangered list. The categorizing, presenting and intimate viewing through a looking glass invites the viewer to ponder
Why these words? Why not Boredom? Hunger? Death? The artist asks these questions of you. Can you come up with a reason? Please Ponder.
Hegelian Seed Collection: Seeds of a Future
Bravery, Caring, Creativity, Ecotopia, Equality, Innovation, Justice, Love,
Safety , Sharing, Sustainability, Universalism, Virtue, Wisdom, Wonder
Hegelian Seed Collection: Seeds of Extinction
Apathy, Disillusionment, Dystopia, Extinction, Fear, Genocide, Hate, Ignorance,
Malnutrition, Mediocrity, Prejudice, Selfishness, Stagnation, Terror, War
-Lauren McKinley Renzetti created circa 2014 statement written March 2015
1Hegelianism is the philosophy of G. W. F. Hegel which can be summed up by the dictum that “the rational alone is real”, which means that all reality is capable of being expressed in rational categories. His goal was to reduce reality to a more synthetic unity within the system of absolute idealism. The first and most wide-reaching consideration of the process of spirit, God, or the idea, reveals to us the truth that the idea must be studied (1) in itself; this is the subject of logic or metaphysics; (2) out of itself, in nature; this is the subject of the philosophy of nature; and (3) in and for itself, as mind; this is the subject of the philosophy of mind (Geistesphilosophie). – from Wikipedia
is drawn to nature, the slow opening of a seed, a lizard’s skin, the human eye up close and personal, our planet from space, molecules under a microscope. She labels herself as an ABSTRACT MAXIMALIST. She tries everything ; art as mediation, assemblage, book making, breathing, collage, curating, drawing, eating, painting, paper folding, print media, quilting, reading, sculpture, sleeping, weaving. She is interested in where art & ideas for art come from, along with the tools , the materials, and the stepping stones made by other artists before her. Lauren makes art and artists everyday. She strives daily for the Eureka! moment of truly SEEING something. Her practise is also facilitating community building through group art making, and fostering creative seeing in others.
