Michelle Lougee

Timber!

Timber! addresses the impact of our consumerist society on nature. Produced from post-consumer plastic that would otherwise find its way to a landfill, the whimsical and playful forms illustrate a framework of tension between material and concept, while contemplating profound problems in our culture and environment. Forms of seeds and pollen are enlarged using the very material which threatens the balance of nature. Like pollen, plastic is an environmental irritant to our senses. It is sprouting from everywhere, in packaging, medicine, and restaurants, like seeds germinating in Spring.

In Timber! an enormous crochet form occupies the center of the gallery. In the corner, a large stitched and drawn tree presides over the space. A group of intricate, colorful, densely woven hanging sculptures fill the walls forming a kaleidoscope of giant plastic irritants. The forms are pleasant to look at yet compelling to contemplate.

Lougee crochets plastic bags into pointed, insinuating, echantingly goofy forms.
—Cate McQuaid, Boston Globe