Drift: New Works by E. E. Kono

Drift:

Recent Works by E. E. Kono

Overview

Dubuque artist E. E. Kono returns to DuMA for a solo exhibition of paintings made with traditional techniques like egg tempera and silverpoint to explore history, myth, and legend. Kono is inspired by the Driftless Area. For her, the region is defined by a river that links the land to the sea and the complex past to a shifting present. Ancient limestone bluffs are scattered with fossils from a prehistoric sea and dotted with effigy mounds shaped like bears, birds and serpents by Eastern Woodland Natives. Growing up in such a place taught Kono to perceive the world as full of connections and layered meanings that drift between cultures and time.

The creation of each painting begins with a detailed metal point drawing, a tribute to the significant role precious metals have played in shaping Western culture. Kono employs ground pigments sourced from various parts of the world, blends them with egg yolk and applies them in layers to her work. The resulting technique is characterized by its linear qualities and purity of color.

Kono studied art history at the University of Iowa in Iowa City and the University of Hull in Kingston Upon Hull, England. Her work has been exhibited in notable venues, including La Luz de Jesus in Los Angeles; Modern Eden in San Francisco; Riverside Art Museum in Riverside, California; and Beinart Gallery in Melbourne, Australia. Additionally, she is an award-winning author and illustrator with over a dozen books published by major trade houses. Her book illustrations are in the collection of the Mazza Museum in Findley, Ohio.

Artist Statement

My practice explores the fluidity of culture and time. I’m interested in how stories and symbols create meaning that’s passed from one society to another, transcending cultures and offering a connection between diverse viewpoints and across ages. To Drift is to move slowly, especially as a result of outside forces, with no control over direction. It means to be carried by a current of air or water, or sometimes circumstances. And it is, I think, an apt description of how the past decade—with its political, cultural, and environmental turmoil—has felt.

I was raised in the driftless region of the upper Mississippi River Valley. The land’s rich soil is dotted with sacred Effigy mounds—formed by now displaced Eastern Woodland Native communities into the likenesses of bears and birds and serpents. The area was settled by immigrants, of varied backgrounds, who mined and farmed and logged and built cities of brick and churches of stone. It is an area developed by populations that stayed or move on depending upon circumstances. Most distinctly, the driftless is defined by the Mississippi River whose flowing waters have brought regular cycles of destruction and renewal. Its waters link the land to the sea, the past to the present, and local to global. I left my hometown as a young adult, eager to see as much of the world as possible. After a lifetime away, I’ve returned to it and am now experiencing the river valley through the lens of both my past and its untold histories.

The Drift exhibit consists of egg tempera paintings and silverpoint drawings created since 2020. They incorporate mythologies and symbols drawn from cultures and places that I have personal connections to. The exhibit is hung to subtly reflect the structure of the churches and riverboats that help to develop the fabric of Dubuque and consequently my own perspective.

Biography

E. E. Kono is an artist based in both Iowa and Los Angeles. Growing up, Kono’s family split their year between a diverse international community and small-town, middle America. This nurtured a life-long interest in how stories and symbols create interwoven meanings between cultures. Initially, this inspired a career in children’s literature, writing and illustrating picture books. Now, her practice favors a slow, meditative process using natural materials chosen for their layered significance.

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A self-taught painter, Kono studied art history at the University of Iowa in Iowa City and the University of Hull in Kingston Upon Hull, England. She has also studied traditional egg tempera techniques under the guidance of artist Koo Schadler.

Kono has exhibited internationally and in multiple notable venues, including in Los Angeles; Modern Eden in San Francisco; Riverside Art Museum in Riverside, California; and Beinart Gallery in Melbourne, Australia. Her paintings have been seen in American Art Collector, Arts to Hearts Magazine, and Juxtapoz magazine. She is also an award-winning author and illustrator with over a dozen books published by major trade houses. Her book illustrations are in the collection of the Mazza Museum in Findley, Ohio.