MONICA REEDE received her B.F.A. from St. Cloud (Minnesota) State University in 1988. She was awarded a Minnesota State Arts Board Fellowship in 1998. Her work is in the collections of the Mayo Clinic and the St. Paul Companies, among several others. REEDE'S work in a summer show at Circa has also been reviewed in Art in America, published winter of 2009.

Using paint, and mixed-media, REEDE creates paintings that are visual translations of thoughts, emotions and experiences. Combining images of the figure, objects and elements of nature, her works are personal narratives exploring aspects of our interior realities. REEDE is interested in the ways in which our thoughts, feelings and perceptions shape the way we interpret our lives. Through the arrangement of images she creates an opportunity for contemplation and through that contemplation, the potential for something of the viewer’s own self to be revealed.

REEDE’S work explores the paradox of how noticing the seemingly insignificant events of our lives can open us up to something larger than ourselves and lead to moments of great pleasure and peace. She has been contemplating what constitutes the essence of something or someone. What is it that remains after all that is illusory has been stripped away? In art and in life, she feels, it appears that what is most valuable and lasting remains intangible.

The physical construction of each piece is integral to the overall effect of her work. REEDE uses common materials, such as plexiglas on wood panel. Images are scratched, painted and or drawn on both the front and back surfaces of the translucent plexiglas material as well as the wood background, thereby creating overlapping layers of imagery. REEDE combines her materials in ways that not only highlight their innate qualities but also push the limits of their use. The result is a structure that has both delicacy and strength, which can be seen as a metaphor for the human condition.