New work featuring paintings and alternative photographic process on display at the Octagon Arts Festival September 28 2014 in downtown Ames.
Cyanotype and Illustration
Exhibition at Bone Creek Museum of Agrarian Art →
Restless Tenants
April 30 – June 29, 2014
Bone Creek Museum presents the work of Naomi Friend this spring. Friend is a new generation of agrarian artist. Her work questions how we live in connection to the land in the 21st century. The themes that she explores are related to the mission of the museum; to connect people to the land through art.
Friend’s latest series, Restless Tenants, explores the interrelationships of humanity to our food and our residences. Friend is serving as curator for this exhibition to combine objects from the permanent collection with her latest work, to strike up a conversation between old and new in these relationships.
Interview at KHOI Ames Community Radio
Artist and ISU student Naomi Friend talks about her artwork, which is on display at the Stomping Grounds Café in Ames. The art works, a combination of watercolors, and prints of photographs on paper, wood, and canvas include images of farm buildings and farm houses, family members, Iowa landscapes. Friend describes it as, “art about land and life in the Midwest.”
To listen to the interview, click the "source" link below. Naomi's segment begins about 1/3 of the way through, after the program about the passenger pigeons.
The View, The Vision, 2012 Cyanotype, van dyke, watercolor
46th Clay Fiber Paper Glass Metal Wood Exhibit
Artwork accepted and on display January 24 - April 5, 2014
Gallery Hours: Monday - Friday 10am - 5pm; Saturday 1 - 5pm; Closed Sunday
For the past 46 years the Clay, Fiber, Paper, Metal, Glass, Wood Show has been an important part of our exhibition program. Outstanding, artists, educators, and museum directors have served as judges and have presented important lectures, workshops and demonstrations in connection with their judging. The Octagon has been grateful for their participation which has made the show a major Midwest exhibit.
Initially, Clay, Fiber, Paper, Glass, Metal, Wood Show was a regional juried exhibit held bi-annually previously known as the Clay Fiber Show. In 1986, as part of the 20th anniversary of the Octagon Center for the Arts, Clay Fiber eligibility was extended nationally so that work of artists from throughout the country could be shown. Since then it has been opened to all media and methods including, but not limited to: clay, fiber, paper, glass, metal, wood, painting, collage, photography, and electronic based works.
Exhibit sponsored in part by: Ames Commission on the Arts, Brown Endowment Fund, Huff Endowment Fund, Iowa Arts Council
Artwork receives honerable mention for Diffusion Magazine
Diffusion is an independent, contributor and reader-supported annual that highlights and celebrates unconventional photographic processes and photo related artwork. Diffusion strives to spotlight artists pushing the boundaries of traditional photographic processes as well as introducing new and innovative voices through articles, interviews, and image galleries.
Described as ‘a wonderful bundle of inspiration,’ Diffusion is supported by an audience of photographers, gallery directors, educators and art enthusiasts worldwide.
Read MoreArt in the Park
Come see Naomi's work at the Okoboji Art in the Park art festival, supported by the Pearson Lakes Art Center. New work for sale! The work will show from 9:00-5:00 August 3 at Preservation Plaza within Arnolds Park.
Biorenewables Art Competition Grand Prize
Naomi's piece, Old Land, New Promise, won the grand prize at the Biorenewables Art Competition at Iowa State University. The piece focuses on the interaction of farmland, city, and energy sources. Within the image are photos taken at the coal power plant at Iowa State University, images from buildings in the city of Ames, and a wildlife refuge near her grandmother's farm in southwest Minnesota. There are also drawings of hay bales (biomass) and electric power lines worked into the image.
See the Iowa State Daily article here.
Arable Visions MFA Thesis Exhibition
Naomi Friend is currently showing her Master of Fine Arts thesis exhibition at the Unitarian Unilateralist Fellowship of Ames, Iowa, in their Gallery in the Round. The work is about the role of farming in the Midwest and visions towards the future of land management and sustainability. The show will continue through May 3.
Gallery hours are Monday through Thursday, noon to 5pm.
