Louise Kames

Water-Soluble Wax Pastels on Masa Paper, wire, lighting

100 x 28 x 48” Silk Organza and Screenprint

I often walk the Mt. Carmel convent grounds in Dubuque. For the past two years, I’ve photographed small piles of sticks and leaves placed near a driveway at Mt. Carmel by a BVM Sister who was experiencing beginning signs of dementia. In my conversations with Sister, I discovered that her aim in this gathering ritual was to beautify the landscape and to calm her mind. We can think about the stick piles as ancient cairns, they mark her daily walks.

The installation was created by screenprinting photographs of the sticks on silk organza fabric.

The images of the sticks disappear with the veiled layers of the installation when viewed from the front or back, suggesting the personal diminishment one experiences with advancing dementia. The title, I Don't See Anything That's Not Beautiful, comes from a conversation with Sister.

Dubuque Museum of Art 2021 Biennial. Awarded Purchase Prize.

Dubuque Museum of Art 2021 Biennial. Awarded Purchase Prize.

Toner transfer images on prayer book pages. Installation: 54 x 58" Each pair of pages 6.5 x 8.5"

Wall installation of prayer book pages with toner transfer. The Office prayer book is used in the daily life of a religious sister. There are 49 images printed on prayer book pages.

These are arranged 7 tall and 7 wide on the wall, suggesting the religious Book of Hours.

The empty second floor warehouse at 1000 Jackson evokes an ancient ordered grove of trees. Massive 13” wide, northern yellow pine pillars suggest trees placed at regular intervals. These are in fact tree trunks, planed by carpenters in the last century. Branching out, both floor and ceiling are made of wood. The site is the former home of wooden window manufacturing.

The print installation, Sacred Grove, references the natural source of the building materials and the commercial activity of the Wilmac Warehouse. Sacred Grove exhibits 30 life size paper reproductions of pillars in the main exhibition space. The natural wood grain texture along with scars from years of drills, nails, staple guns, etc. was transferred to soft, fibrous paper by rubbing it with water-soluble wax crayons. This is a technique often used to record impressions of gravestones. Here, centuries of natural history evidenced by the pillar’s wood grain are joined with the trace marks of recent industry and human labor. Rubbings with earth tone pigments echo tree colors. The forms are closely placed in a natural, organic arrangement mimicking the original grove. Each column is internally illuminated with a battery operated light fixture. The interior space suggests a natural forest yet presents a ghostly presentation of paper columns in an industrial venue. 

Silk, Glass, Paper, Copper Font, Book, Video Projection, Screenprint, and Toner Transfer.

Dear Mother honors twenty-two deceased BVM Sisters. The installation consists of twenty black silk-draped forms hanging from the ceiling suggesting the cape portion of the traditional BVM habit. They are arranged in pairs to evoke a ceremonial procession or recreational walk. A facsimile of the letter each sister wrote to the Mother General -requesting entrance into the BVM Congregation is screen printed on the front of each cape form.

On the floor beneath each suspended silk form is a plate glass replica of the grave markers in the Mt. Carmel cemetery. A Sacramentary, the Catholic book of prayers, is displayed on the far wall. Images of the twenty women are printed on pages from the Sacramentary.

Tempera on glass, West facing window in the Voices from the Warehouse building installation space.

The empty second floor warehouse at 1000 Jackson St. evokes an ancient ordered forest. Massive 13” wide wood columns suggest trees placed at regular intervals. (not far removed from actual trees – just “planed” wood.) both floor and ceiling are made of wood. The site is the former home of wooden window manufacturing. Each of these references provided the impetus to glaze the windows with tree and tree root imagery. The forest is extended to the river’s edge. The interior space is linked to the natural world beyond. Trees have been eroded by water, exposing root systems. The root system is not unlike the pattern of the columns in the warehouse’s multiple levels.

This work presents different views to the indoor and street observer.

Pastel on Paper, 8 x 7”
Private Collection

Pastel on Paper, 30 x 22”
Collection of Sisters of Charity, BVM

Each drawing, 22 x 30 “ Pastel, Charcoal, Charcoal wash on paper

22 x 30” Pastel, Charcoal, and Charcoal Wash on Paper

22 x 30” Pastel, Charcoal, and Charcoal Wash on Paper

22 x 30” Pastel, Charcoal, and Charcoal Wash on Paper

22 x 30” Pastel, Charcoal, and Charcoal Wash on Paper

22 x 30” Pastel, Charcoal, Charcoal and Gesso Wash

22 x 30” Pastel, Charcoal, Charcoal and Gesso Wash

22 x 30” Pastel, Charcoal, Charcoal and Gesso Wash

30 x 22 image area, Pastel on Paper

30 x 22 image area, Pastel on Paper

Pastel on Paper, 23 x 14”
Private Collection

Pastel on Paper
Private Collection

Pastel on Paper, 25 x 16”
Collection: University of Iowa Hospital and Clinics

Pastel on Paper, 16 x 24”
Private Collection

Pastel on Paper, 28 x 19”
Collection: University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics

Pastel on Paper, 48 x 18”
Collection: Premier Bank, Dubuque

Pastel on Paper, 13 x 23”
Collection: University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics

Pastel on Paper, 15 x 10”
Private Collection

Pastel on Paper, 49 x 18”
Available for Purchase

Pastel on Paper, 18 x 13”
private collection

pastel on paper, each 36 x 20” 2012
Collection of Clarke University

pastel on paper, 10 x 14” 2012
private collection

pastel on paper, 12 x 18” 2012
private collection

pastel on paper, 10 x 16” 2012
private collection

pastel on paper 11 x 16” 2012
private collection

pastel on paper, 20 x 11” 2011
private collection

pastel on paper, 20 x 11” 2011
private collection

Pastel on Paper
Collection: Premier Bank, Dubuque

Pastel on Paper
Collection: Premier Bank, Dubuque

Screenprint on Waxed Masa Paper with Thread. Each image 15 x 15”

This triptych of screenprints honors and memorializes three politically active women, each a victim of violence in recent years: Malala Yousafza, Gabby Giffords and Jo Cox. These images are part of an on-going body of printworks that references the history of women’s spirituality and social engagement. The women are presented in an iconic format and employ imagery that references their life work as well as an art historical context. Each work is pierced in some way to suggest the wounds suffered by the women.

Malala Yousafza, an activist for female education in Pakistan was shot on her school bus in 2012 by a member of the Taliban. She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014. The text on her image includes the lyrics of song that she and classmates were singing on the bus when it was stopped by the Taliban militants.

Gabby Giffords represented the State of Arizona in the United States Congress when she survived an assassination attempt that left her with a severe brain injury in 2011. Imagery includes the archangel Gabriel (Gabby) known to deliver important messages to people and the handwritten text of her first speech following the shooting.

British Labor Party representative and humanitarian, Jo Cox was murdered in England in 2016, shortly before the Brexit vote in the United Kingdom. The background image pictures a street memorial of flowers and candles while the circle of stars references the European Union flag.

The Iowa Arts Council selected these prints for exhibition in Iowa Governor, Kim Reynolds office in 2018.