The natural world inspires my paintings, prints and cut paper structures. The act of drawing slows me down and allows me to understand how different elements of the natural world interact.
The introspective relationship between walking and thinking allows me to contemplate my spiritual and physical connections with my surroundings. Pathways of thought become topographies of the landscape experience, real and imagined. I use varied viewpoints and perspectives to emphasize the movement from one location to another. I combine observational drawings with geographic maps and star charts to consider the relationship between natural and man-made environments.
My drawings are constructed over time, I excavate previous work as a source for new work to emerge. Drawings make their way into paintings. Prints and drawings become cut-paper assemblages. Far from being fixed, my work employs time, alteration and contingency—and with each modification, a trace of the turbulence, tranquility and beauty still remains.
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Denise Manseau, b. 1959 Massachusetts, currently lives and works in Rye, New Hampshire. Manseau holds a BFA from the University of Massachusetts Lowell and an MFA from Massachusetts College of Art and Design. Manseau attended Haystack Mountain School of Craft in Maine as an Open Studio Resident and as a resident artist at Vermont Studio Center. Manseau’s work from her residency at Lo Studio dei Nipote, Monasterace, Italy was included in a traveling exhibition at the Monasterace Museo and the Hillyer Art Space for International Artists, Washington, DC. Recent exhibitions include 3S Artspace, New Hampshire, Westbeth Gallery, New York and The Piano Factory, Boston.
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Manseau is a member of Pell Lucy, an international artist collective founded in 2020 that organizes in person and online exhibitions. In 2009 Manseau co-founded Arts Research Collaborative, a space dedicated to contemporary arts research with a focus on visual arts education, connecting UMass Lowell students and the arts community.
Pell Lucy :: Online Exhibitions
Summer 2024 Exhibition – Travel the Question
July 5 – January 3, 2025
Pell Lucy :: PellLucy.com
Arts Research Collaborative :: artsresearchcollaborative.com
82 Prescott Street, Lowell, Massachusetts