It was a combination of the hermit crabs crawling around in Kate Casanova’s hair and the mushrooms growing out of chairs she created that earned the International Falls native a spot as one of City Page’s Artists of the Year for 2012.
The Minneapolis-based publication that not only included Casanova’s art, but featured her on the issue’s cover, listed its chosen artists as “the representatives and avatars of artists everywhere – the imaginative souls who remind us that life, to be fully appreciated, must not be just lived but keenly observed, celebrated, sung, danced, internalized, confronted, and laughed at.”
“It’s an incredible honor to be featured on the cover of the City Pages Artists of the Year issue,” the Minneapolis College of Art and Design graduate said. “The Twin Cities has so many amazing artists so it’s quite a privilege.”
The artist of the year honor only tops off a year of success for Casanova. She noted she has also been part of 13 art exhibitions, featured on the Twin Cities show MN Original, and has been recognized in other publications such as Metro Magazine, mnartists.org, and Minneapplesauce.
“This year has been a busy year,” she said.
And while Casanova, who is the daughter of Charles and Mary Casanova, may live in the big city now, it is her small-town roots of growing up in Ranier that guided her to the passion she has immersed herself in today.
“Growing up in a place surrounded by nature had a huge influence on who I am and the work I make,” Casanova told The Journal. “As a kid, we had so many different animals over the years...I spent a lot of time outside. I would catch crayfish in Rainy Lake or discover snake nests in the woods. The most fascinating mysteries in the world seemed to be outside, if you just looked closely enough.”
When it comes to Casanova’s style of art, she admits she enjoys creating something “that conflicts the viewers desire to both draw closer and pull away.”
Take her mushroom chairs, for example. Casanova takes chairs she purchased at thrift stores and transforms them into a fungi-friendly environment.
“I remove the cushions from the chair, reupholster it with new fabric, and replace the stuffing with straw that has been inoculated with the mushroom spores,” she said. “The chair is then placed in a humidity and temperature controlled plexiglass box and I wait for the mushrooms to grow. In a few weeks, the mushrooms began to emerge through the fabric.”
And the trending response for those who view her unique type of artwork?
“People want to touch the work,” she said. “I often find that people are simultaneously intrigued and and unnerved by the pieces.”
The three chairs she has created so far, are placed in a plexiglass box that keeps the environment at a constant temperature and humidity level, Casanova explained. Each piece lasts about two months before the mushrooms are taken over by other molds. Casanova said she then throws the chair out.
And what about hermit crabs exploring her hair? The artist said she is fascinated with the types of organisms people consider to be lesser like bugs, bats and snakes.
“Our aversion to these creatures is in a large part cultural,” she said. “We grow up being taught to be afraid of them. In reality, there is no true animal hierarchy, just human preference. By engaging with these sorts of animals in my art, I am taking a closer look at the individual animals, but also our belief systems surrounding them.”
Still, Casanova said people generally uncomfortable when they first see hermit crabs burrowing themselves into her braided hair. But, after awhile, watching how the crabs interact with each other distract viewers from the fact that the activity is happening on top of a human’s head.
What is up next? Casanova is looking forward to a new year with new challenges. She said her focus will be on reaching new goals and seeing what she can accomplish.
“I’m currently preparing for my thesis exhibition at the University of Minnesota,” she said of what she is working on today. “I will be turning a car, an 1976 AMC Pacer to be exact, into a mushroom terrarium. Like the mushroom chairs, fungi will be growing out of the seats and floorboards.”
The Journal asked what Casanova wanted the people who live in the town she grew up to know about her. Her answer was simple, “The Rose Garden’s special wonton soup is still my favorite wonton soup in the world.”
