Number 28. Stem and Seeds

A. Mary Kay, artist

born 1954

Number 28. Stem and Seeds, 2004–2008–2011

Portfolio/Series title: Some of the Sum

Where object was made: United States

Material/technique: mixed media

Dimensions:
Sheet/Paper Dimensions (Height x Width): 56.8 x 76.2 cm
Sheet/Paper Dimensions (Height x Width): 22 3/8 x 30 in
Mat Dimensions (Height x Width): 30 x 40 in

Credit line: Museum purchase: Gift of Colette and Jeff Bangert

Accession number: 2016.0160

Not on display

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Artist A. Mary Kay is an intrepid collector of the material remains of the biological environments of Kansas. Plant specimens—both preserved and in decay—seed pods, bark, excavated roots, reptile and mammal skeletons, eggs, nests, snakeskins, tortoise shells, and fossils are arrayed in trays and tubs in her studio amidst her works in progress.

Mary Kay’s approach is to combine non-objective backgrounds with carefully observed and largely objective presentations of other-than-human life. In the exhibited works, she details three seedpods, a leaf skeletonized by the larvae of leaf miners, a combined image of an opened seed pod and a section view of a plant stalk, and withered Hosta leaves spotted with mold and well on their way to reentering the microbial realm of the soil.