By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post
Crystal Hammerschmidt is exploring nature and motherhood in her MFA exhibit "Mother Water."
The exhibit is on display now through Friday at the Moss-Thorns Gallery of Art on the Fort Hays State University campus.
She said some of her pieces have been an homage to motherhood and her own mother. She has been spending more time with her mother recently because of health problems.
Hammerschmidt's main artistic focus is printmaking, but the pandemic helped her branch out into other mediums.
Hammerschmidt, 39, of Smolan, grew up in her parents' upholstery shop. She has combined printmaking with upholstery to create mixed-media pieces.
"Folk Flower" is a large, colorful circular piece that combines relief cut print on fabric, hand-printed fabric buttons and cushion on wood. "Nature of Vanity" is another mixed media piece that seems to have vines coming out from a framed fabric installation.
Hammerschmidt was able to explore FHSU's casting program. She has a series of large metal discs in the exhibition that were cast from a ring of pinecones. The largest of these is "Disco-cones," which is cast from iron and weighs more than 500 pounds. The mold for "Disco-cones" was more than 1,200 pounds, Hammerschmidt said.
She said the pine cones were collected during the pandemic when she was on walks with her dog.
During the pandemic when she was at home, Hammerschmidt also made a series of clay models which were used to make cast iron figures.
Hammerschmidt's exhibition is not without examples of traditional two-dimensional examples of her printmaking.
Some of these relate back to Hammerschmidt's nature theme, including "Celtic Worms" and "Sneaky Snake."
Hammerschmidt will be graduating Saturday.
Following graduation, she will travel with other members of the art department to Germany for five weeks, where they will be helping to build a furnace.
The project is part of a multiple-phase international project that will culminate in a cast-iron festival. She received a Koch Foundation grant to help fund the travel expense.
"It's combing industry, art, community and teachers," she said of the project.
