i.e. is pleased to welcome back Anacortes sculptor, Lanny Bergner, for his third solo exhibit with us. It was back in the early 80's  while attending Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia that Bergner first began working with metal mesh. This became a primary medium for him over the years. He pushed its limits by torching it for color to make patterns, shaping it by hand with rudimentary tools to create 3 dimensional structures influenced by the biomorphic life around him, and then stitching by hand with wire. It was a quiet contemplative art process in keeping with the subject matter Bergner was focused on. Organic, in a world of man made metals. The recent themes are of leaves and wings. Oversized bee wings and dragon fly wings, decaying leaves, and horns of plenty. This body of work is presented as a full room installation with a centerpiece of over 100 falling bee wings.

"A chance", as Bergner says, "for the viewers to meditate on their symbiotic relationship to the natural world."

  Lanny Bergner's work is in numerous museum collections including the Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, WA; Museum of Art and Design, NY, NY; Fuller Craft Museum, Brockton, MA and The Central Museum of Textile, Łódź, Poland and The Smithonian,  Washington D.C. In 1995 he won the Betty Bowen Memorial Award, administered by the Seattle Art Museum. In 2005 he won a Gold Prize at the Cheongju International Craft Biennale in Cheongju, Korea and was invited to create an installation “Between Earth and Sky” at the 2007 Cheongju International Craft Biennale. In 2010 he was one of five American artists who exhibited in the prestigious 13th International Triennial of Tapestry in Łódź, Poland. His work was recently included in the book “Fiber Art Today,” a survey of contemporary international fiber artists, published by Schiffer Publishing, Ltd.  He is featured in this month Metalsmith Magazine, "Meshing About" by D. Wood. Volume 43.