ST. PETER — From the one-of-a-kind hats atop her braided red hair to the funky shoes she wears while dancing at Minnesota Square Park festivals, St. Peter photographer Cheryl Casteen’s people-loving personality is as bright as her wardrobe.
“We’re a good pairing … I prefer to work in the background while Cheryl gets energized when she’s around people,” said installation artist Pamela Thompson, who recently chose Casteen to collaborate on an ecological art show earlier this summer in Armenia.
“I needed a travel buddy — an artist who wasn’t tied down to any schedule. And I knew Cheryl had done some eco-art in Australia,” said Thompson, who teaches at Goucher College in Maryland.
In 1991, Casteen had been part of Burntime, a project that emphasized the United States’ connection to a hole in the ozone layer above New Zealand.
Armenia’s “Living Soil” project utilized a natural material as its theme for an exhibit designed to raise awareness about environmental problems involving the complex ecosystem of vital minerals, organic matter, air and water.
“My ticket was paid for, that’s how I could afford to go,” Casteen said.
“So grateful to Pam for inviting me to join her … to explore a magical country where the weather is always beautiful, the people are lovely, generous, resilient, resourceful and creative. Their paper money features images of poets and artists, and even the pedestals upon which their honored heroes stand or sit are inventive and surprising,” Casteen posted on social media after arriving with Thompson at their destination.
Prior to the trip, the collaborators put out a call for artists to submit works inspired by soil or related topics. Entries of poetry, prose and music by Americans also were accepted. Some of the local artists represented in the project include Charlie Putnam, Michelle Kaisersatt, Ann Johnson, Shelly Caldwell, Emily Kretschmer, Keith Luebke and Patty Ruskey.
Most of the visual works Casteen carried with her back and forth on her trip were created by veterans of art displays. But for Sarette Arsenault, of St. Peter, the Armenia show was her first public exhibit.
“It was an amazing feeling. The first piece of art I showed was in something global. I was filled with joy,” Arsenault said.
During the mid-June to mid-July project, Thompson and Casteen spent several days in Armenia’s capital, Yerevan, hanging submitted works and creating an installation for a nongovernmental organization, ACT Cultural. “Living Soil” utilized a natural material as its theme designed to raise awareness about environmental problems.
The two collaborators waited to create their contributions to the show until they were at the gallery space. Soil-derived paint was incorporated into the centerpiece installation. Armenian artist Mkrtich Tonoyan was the pair’s host while they studied soil from various sites around his country.
“Mkrtich took us far and wide to visit multiple monasteries, post-Soviet structures, historic buildings, museums, markets and to Uzuna, to visit the home of his old friend Aram,” Casteen said.
Some of the art tools Casteen brought with her were on loan from soil scientist Beth Fisher of St. Peter. The muller — a flat-bottomed pestle — was used to grind pigment made from Armenian soil in with binding mediums that help stabilize a natural paint.
Fisher, who teaches at Minnesota State University, showed works, as did a handful of her students, in the “Living Soil” exhibit.
“I love it when science and art play together,” Casteen said about the scientist’s contributions to the project.
“I have a Ph.D. in science, and I remember my mom would always tell me, ‘You should be an artist,’” Fisher said.
The Armenia show included a small monolith by Fisher that focused on soils that can be found at a site that once was on shoreline of the glacial Lake Agassiz. The ancient body of water is now long gone, but it once covered parts of Minnesota, the Dakotas and Manitoba.
Fisher’s monolith, along with Arsenault’s painting and a few other pieces from Armenian show, are part of the Arts Center of Saint Peter’s annual member show, on display through Saturday.
Casteen and Fisher provided informal demonstrations Thursday about soil pigments during a small gathering of creatives at St. Peter’s Art Center. Being part of the art shows as well as lending her expertise to help Casteen with projects were easy decisions for Fisher, although until recently the two had been only casual acquaintances.
“Cheryl exudes creativity and happiness,” Fisher said. “When she asked me to be a part of ‘Living Soil,’ I said, ‘Let’s do it.’”
Thompson and Casteen are working on the project’s second phase, a show on U.S. soil, preferably Minnesota. They have not yet booked a gallery space.