a present unknown, by molly koehn
Please join the Machine shop virtually or in-person for First Friday, August 7th from 6-9 pm.
Work will be available for purchase online via our website just click on the buy art tab, which features images of work and/or view our video below. We will host in-person viewings during on August 7th from 6-9pm (limiting small groups at a time, please plan on wearing a mask).
About the Show:
a present unknown imagines a past future by inquiring into Colorado Springs and the Pikes Peak region. Drawings speculate the many lives of Pikes Peak and tease glimpses into alternate worlds. Ancient forms intersect with urbanity, correlating past and present, earth and mars, terraforming and urban development. These speculations provide insights into potential pasts, presents, and futures, creating a place unspecified in time.
just the other day,
pikes peak told me of an ancient desert as large as the sahara,
said she was it.
and it was her.
she told me then of an ancient sea,
said she was it.
and it was her.
i asked, “then, what of earth?
has she lived one million lives?”
she exclaimed, “perhaps!- she is not earth at all.
perhaps!- it is mars who hides in these rocks.”
About the artist:
Molly Koehn is an environmental artist originally from southwest Kansas. She received an MFA with an emphasis in fibers from Arizona State University (2017), and her current bodies of work carry on the delicate, expressive qualities of her background and BFA in drawing from Fort Hays State University (2013). Melding a practice of drawing, weaving, and sculptural installation, Molly’s work examines idealizations of nature. She responds to city landscaping and structure through material and construction, exploring why we choose to seemingly improve the aesthetic appearance of our surroundings by often eradicating the “natural” in preference of the artificial. Molly currently lives and works in Houston, TX.
