This month in City Gallery, Lorie Lee Andrews’ Yielding to Nature welcomes you into an urban oasis. Stunning woodcut block mirroring a contrasting print of its own entices eager eyes. With this body of work, Lorie Lee takes inspiration from a place right here in Indianapolis. This body of work was born out of a commission painting Lorie Lee created for the founder of Wilder Garden, Julia Wilder. Wilder Garden is a forest in the thick of an urban environment that supports over two hundred and fifty tree species. Through various printmaking techniques, Yielding to Nature celebrates a place in Indianapolis and encourages us to appreciate nature.

Lorie Lee has incorporated art into her daily life and way of being. Since she was two years old, she has been creating and has since allowed the playful process of art to inform and guide her life. Her work naturally lends itself to be whimsical partly because she taught young kids art for a long time. Her love of teaching, learning, and storytelling is a part of her overall creative process. To stay inspired and motivated, she gives herself small daily assignments that then turn into a beautiful compilation of masterpieces over time. Like her series, one painting a day found her studio, where she carved out time to paint one small painting a day for a whole year.

As a printmaker, Lorie Lee is often experimenting and boldly stepping into new and exciting ways of mark-making. With this body of work, she dove deeper into woodcut printmaking, a process she hadn't done in a while. Planting an Oak, a woodcut block print, was an exciting piece that challenged her to step out of her comfort zone. This piece, in particular, was inspired by a master naturalist Roberta Jannsen’s recognition of the positive impact of Oak Trees on the environment. Planting an oak supports over two thousand different species. The scale of this relief block print suits the magnitude of this tree both in impact and scale. This piece serves as a reminder that there are tangible actions we can take to be kinder to the earth and co-exist with all its creatures.

*Plant an Oak II*
Single color woodcut print.
22”x 36”

This exhibit recognizes the power of the ecosystem as a whole and how we belong to it. Works incorporated in this exhibit include monotypes of leaves found from Wilder Garden, a woodcut block and print using Japanese wood, intuitive paintings, and etchings. Lorie Lee beautifully weaves in the true value of appreciating and cultivating nature through these exploration methods. Just like Julia Wilder chose to yield to nature and create an urban forest in her backyard, Lorie Lee hopes we all do our part to yield to nature and let it teach and inspire us.

Lorie Lee’s work will be in the City gallery through April. Come check out Yielding to Nature in person at the Harrison Center or through our online gallery.