In Focus: “The Memories Of Our Memories” Art Exhibit At BSU

The exhibit “The Memories of our Memories” is a collection of watercolors by a Minneapolis artist Keren Kroul. Her exhibit is inspired by her upbringing. She was born in Israel to an Argentinean father and an Israeli mother, and was raised in Mexico.

Laura Goliaszewski, Director of Bemidji State University’s Talley Gallery, says it’s nice to show a watercolor artist at the gallery, especially since they don’t offer it often.

“Just to see another form of a water medium artist here, but to see how artist actually convey ideas are really important to all students,” Goliaszewski said.

Kroul’s work displays a lot of symbolism of the process of memory. Goliaszewski says the artist’s work is inspired by the brain’s function of collecting, transmitting, and storing information.

“So, what you can see are all the items that are interests to her about memory. And how we remember things. We remember things in fragments and sometimes we have memories that cloud other memories. Or the loss of memories and she uses this beautifully even through the materials that she uses,” Goliaszewski said.

The artist uses watercolor on paper in each of her art creations. There’s a thread that connects from painting to paining or from memory to memory.

Goliaszewski says Kroul overlays papers to represent the clouding of memories and little fragments and shapes to emphasize how much time has passed by in our memory. She says she likes to investigate an artwork and look deeper for its meaning.

“You can connect to it right away, especially when you’re getting older and you try to remember something from your youth. And it gets a little clouded. You can convince yourself sometimes that something has happened before when it hasn’t. And she just does it beautifully in the symbolism you could see,” Goliaszewski said.

Goliaszewsk says everyone interprets artwork differently.

“Everyone who sees a piece of artwork will take away whatever they can from it. Because what you interpret from a piece of art really depends on what you bring to it,” said Goliaszewski.

The Talley Gallery at BSU is an educational resource for students. The artists that are featured in the Gallery are typically chosen to help enhance student’s knowledge in art.