I draw and paint the beauty of my surroundings. I navigate the changeability of the environment with the curiosity of a naturalist. I observe the miraculous process of growth, entropy and renewal and document my perception of the natural world. My daily walks at the shoreline and woodlands of New Hampshire bring new revelations about the fragility of my local ecosystems and the interconnected mysteries of our world.
Line—drawn, cut or implied—is the scaffold that much of my work is constructed. It provides the framework to articulate internal and external spaces. Landscape and botanical renderings intermix with cartographic and celestial imagery. Combined, they create invented spaces—abstract yet familiar. I often use multiple perspectives without a clearly defined horizon line. This establishes a spatial disorientation that can result in an uncertainty in position and location.
My work develops in a lively exchange of traditional and non-traditional methods and materials. This way of working provides an open field for intuition, improvisation and chance. Drawings make their way into paintings. Prints and drawings become cut paper assemblages and structures. I make work that withstands many transformations. These alterations leave traces of the turbulence, tranquility and beauty I experience each day.
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Denise Manseau, b. 1959 Somerville, Massachusetts, currently lives and works in Rye, New Hampshire. Manseau holds a BFA from the University of Massachusetts Lowell and an MFA from Massachusetts College of Art and Design. Manseau has attended local and international artist residencies. She was an Open Studio Resident at Haystack Mountain School of Craft in Maine, an international fellow at Lo Studio dei Nipote, Monasterace, Italy and Vermont Studio Center. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, including Westbeth Gallery, New York, The Piano Factory, Boston, 3S Artspace, Portsmouth. Work from her residency in Italy was included in a traveling exhibition at the Monasterace Museo and the Hillyer Art Space for International Artists, Washington, DC.
Manseau is a member of Pell Lucy, an international artist collective founded in 2020 that organizes in person and online exhibitions. In 2009 Manseau co-founded Arts Research Collaborative, a space dedicated to contemporary arts research with a focus on visual arts education, connecting UMassLowell students and the arts community through exhibitions, artist talks and the ARC Drawing Residency program.
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Pell Lucy :: Online Exhibitions
Winter 2023 Exhibition :: Glance Gander Gaze
December 22 – June 21, 2024
Pell Lucy :: PellLucy.com
Arts Research Collaborative :: artsresearchcollaborative.com
82 Prescott Street, Lowell, Massachusetts