Although the two women have never met, the artwork by India Cruse Griffin and Tai Lipan compliments and even completes each other. “Among the Folds” is tuned in to cues from nature, with deeply vibrant hues and feminine desert tones. Through mixed media and drawings, the artists unearth stories of heritage, playing with portrayals of history from different lenses, as an archival, fossilized past and as a spiritually connected, living story.

Diverse Core by Tai Lipan. Ink on paper. 35” x 24”

“Among the Folds” is full of layers, as the title implies. “Ordovician Folds,” by Lipan, is a shape of thinly layered wooden pieces, a three dimensional interpretation of the depth implied in her drawings. Lipan takes inspiration from the earth as “an ancient ocean floor,” which carries “the enormity of time” and the cultures it has seen rise and fall “embedded in rock.” Like texturized fossils, she breathes life into that which is now extinct, creating nurturing folds that could be from such an ocean floor as well as an intricate, woven carpet or the ravines and crevices formed by years of running water.

The Trinity by India Cruse-Griffin. Mixed Media Collage. 23” x 11.5”

The pieces from Lipan exhibit surrealist qualities, while Cruse-Griffin’s works are rooted in reality, where the layers of history and culture are portrayed through mixed media collage. Cruse-Griffin’s pieces are rich in both texture and color, with “quilt like compositions” peeking through the vibrant, flourishing greens and deep skin tones.

Crevasse by Tai Lipan. Flashe paint on paper. 29.5” x 37”

The minimal palette of desert neutrals and black and white grounds Lipan’s work with the qualities of a preserved foundation, like the history of “ancient treasures” she now notices when “hiking through creek beds.” At the same time, the colors exude softness, an ode to the vulnerability of nature and communities, whose pasts are recorded with “impressions [that] are a memoir” in the ground, if nowhere else.

The feminine energy captured in Cruse-Griffin’s artwork comes from the curving human figures shown in relation to each other and to forms in nature. Connection and community are central themes in her work, and the featured figures are often seen looking out or leaning, with enlarged hands and bodies. Cruse-Griffin describes this as “soulfulness,” a spiritual energy and connectivity that draws the subject and the viewer together, making the audience an “emotionally a part of the art.”

Peer Behind the Cotton by India Cruse-Griffin. Mixed media collage. 14.5” x 18.5”

“Among the Folds” is on display in the Harrison Center’s Speck Gallery for the month of September. The exhibit can be viewed in-person by appointment and in our online gallery, where all pieces are available for purchase.