Normandale art instructor David Luke will host a reception for his exhibition Reflections on
Minnesota: (A Portrait of Home) on Monday, January 27 from 4:30-6:30 p.m. in the
Normandale Fine Arts Gallery. The exhibition runs through February 4, 2025.
David’s exhibition investigates the transcendent beauty of Minnesota’s lakes and waters against
an overlay of images where helicopter patterns disrupt, disjoint and cut through the picturesque
and calm that the bodies of water provide.
“When you look at the exhibit, there are individual images of lakes and rivers around the gallery
for context,” said Luke. “If you are looking at the larger main piece in the show and are
frustrated that you can’t see the landscapes and can’t see the “pretty stuff”, I think I have made
the point. The lines are meant to disrupt and break apart and challenge the love of a place that I
have called home for almost 20 years. It is a question and a conversation, which can be a generic
way to define art. I was trying to say, do you agree, understand, do you have a different take?”
David came to Normandale in 2006 as a visiting artist from New York City through a visiting
scholar program. He has been with the Art Department since that time. “I think the Art
Department is doing a great job embracing technology as it relates to art, but also keeping our feet firmly in the Fine Arts.”
One of his favorite parts of teaching at art at Normandale is the diversity of the student body, and
the different perspectives students bring to the classroom.
“As an art instructor, you are asking students to talk about personal perspectives and a variety of experiences, and that makes an art course engaging,” said Luke. “I say to students, look around. We have had all sorts of different life experiences. We should come to a topic or project from completely different perspectives.”
David Luke has created a long and extensive body of work that investigates contemporary issues of natural ecosystems, conflict, climate change, and many other future-forward examinations. For more background on his work visit:
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