In her artist statement Raymer Ivkoff writes: \u201cMy subject matter centres on elements of the natural physical environment within the context of movement, order, time, energy, rhythm and regeneration.\u201d My overall feeling of the show was something very earthly. I could almost smell the richness of soil after a rain or ploughing, a sensation that goes back at the beginning of mankind.<\/p>\n The exhibition contains of three series. \u201cForest\u201d is an earlier series the artist began in 1998. Each sculpture is freestanding, narrow, linear and upright, approximately 7 feet high and made of hand hewn wood with metal detail. Each piece rests on a bedrock of unadorned limestone. Raymer Ivkoff depicts the amazing richness of a forest with its tall trees that try to reach even higher, closer to the sun, and the abundance of undergrowth. I could imagine many of those sculptures put close together like a real forest. Walking in between them, one easily could feel like you were entering the black forest of the Brother Grimm – welcoming and tricky at the same time. One of the clay figures from the Khivas series, a hooded one without a face, could easily be a creature in that forest.<\/p>\n The entire exhibition seems to be curated around the forest and its flora. There is a piece dedicated to every stage of natural growth. \u201cSighting\u201d, a relief, from the series with the same title, take us underground when we can peek at seeds hiding in their winter retreat, ready to spring into life. \u201cRoot Force\u201d shows the amazing energy of the seed, growing into small roots, so fragile looking, but extremely strong that it can brake through rocks and stones until the plant rises out of the ground. Eventually they become roots of larger plants, even trees, connecting the plants to the nurturing earth. In some works surfaces are covered with various kinds of leaves, fragile and beautiful, rhythmically bending in the wind.<\/p>\n My favourite piece, \u201cCombined Forces\u201d is a clay, boat-like structure filled with a lighter colored material, maybe sand, that gives a cradling home to some vegetation that looks like seaweed, made of metal strips. I can easily imagine an abandoned seaside where a forgotten boat slowly filled up by the sea.<\/p>\n All the pieces are abstract, focusing on natural movement, rhythm and textures observed during the artist\u2019s walks in the woods.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.artoronto.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/rsz_judy_raymer_ivkoff_wilderness_wood_steel_left_and__life_source_oxide_glaze_fired_clay_right.jpg\" "\\"rsz_judy_raymer_ivkoff_wilderness_wood_steel_left_and__life_source_oxide_glaze_fired_clay_right\\"")
<\/a>Judy Raymer Ivkoff, Wilderness, wood, steel (left) and Life Source, oxide glaze fired clay (right)<\/p>\n<\/a>Judy Raymer Ivkoff,\u00a0Forest\u00a0 Series, wood, limestone base<\/p>\n<\/a>Judy Raymer Ivkoff, Root Force, bronze, limestone<\/p>\n<\/a>Judy Raymer Ivkoff, Sightings, wood \u00a0steel<\/p>\n<\/a>Judy Raymer Ivkoff, Combined Forces, bronze \u00a0oxide fired clay<\/p>\n