Kim Cheselka’s solo show is the newest to grace the walls of Fulcrum Gallery on Hilltop. Her experiences interacting with nature and the environment in Montana and California help shape the pieces and objects that make up “Instructions From the Natural World.”

Divided into the main entrance foyer of Fulcrum and the next middle room of the gallery, Cheselka exhibits her willow tree branch-based works as well as mixed media boxes that reflect her relationship with words, earth and experiences.

In her artist statement, Cheselka expounds upon her artistic process and her fascination with working with willow. “I collect, I select - words, images, objects, willow. I spend a lot of time outside in Montana, even when I am not physically there. Many of my images and themes stem from that experience…Willow: a return in part to the process I used in my earlier installation pieces. No nails, no glue, no wire. The willow is bent, formed, dried, existing as a solid sculpture, in part, dictated by their own pressure and resistance to each other.”

“Quiet Motion of Change” is one of Cheselka’s larger-scale willow-constructed pieces situated to the left in the main gallery area. Its span takes up an entire wall, and its construction differs from the rest of the pieces in the collection as it has one strain of brown wood coursing through it, unlike the others that all scream with tangled clusters of blonde, virginal light bark. According to Cheselka, the piece was made in stages. “I had begun in early summer when the willow was not yet growing. Working with thicker, older pieces is a challenge. I incorporated a mahogany colored branch within the structure, and brought the piece back to my studio in L.A. I found a fantastic willow trove in the foothills near Yosemite and incorporated those in this piece.”

On the other side of the room, “Pursuit of Happiness” hangs in between a few other pieces. Situated in a diagonal method, the branches composing the piece vary between circular spiraled shapes and straight pieces that stick up and point out from the edges and the center. Viewing it from the center, it appears like a nest or a bed, which can essentially be the same. “An obsession or passion, a passion or an obsession. Sometimes hard to define…I can still find solace in this piece, knowing that each element is woven in the quietness of time spent,” said Cheselka in her description of the piece.

The other half of Cheselka’s exhibit is a combination of paintings on wood and mixed media shadowboxes, filled with found and created art. Seeing the two different gallery spaces, one would think that two different artists were showing, but the fact that Cheselka chose to fit these two brands of art together speaks to both her range as a visual artist as well as her personality type, deciding that these two aspects of her work fit together seamlessly.

“In A Dream That Was A song” is a mixed media piece that is composed of a blue frame, with a square cut out that is painted the same tone of blue inside, with a musical bar filled with notes at the bottom. The interior contains another wooden piece that is painted green that has been scratched to create the wood of a tree trunk, with a boat sitting in dead, leafless branches. To the lower right, a small square is cut out, painted blue inside and a yellow cup sits inside, perhaps with coffee. To the left of the piece, another wooden plane was placed inside and a square cut out of it, with a burning fire filling the space. Below, a clock without a minute or hour hand is painted white and carved into a circle, which is a theme that runs through a few of Cheselka’s mixed media pieces.

“When all the elements of living the life we love seem to scatter it feels important to gather them all up again and position them just so,” Cheselka stated of the collage-like piece that combines many aspects of her being that only she can truly understand, but to which others can definitely relate.

Throughout her show, Cheselka strives to not make a point or an everlasting impression on the viewer, but rather impart to them her life experiences, memories and notions. Taking into account her experiences in the wilderness, making art and even dreaming, she creates pieces of work - whether with wood and paint or by willow branches woven together alone - that affirms to her viewers that Cheselka is one who fully embraces her experiences and keeps their memories alive through her artwork.

“Instructions From the Natural World” is on view until Dec. 13. Fulcrum Gallery is located at 308 Martin Luther King Jr., Way. Gallery hours are Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 12-6 p.m. and by appointment. For more information, call (253) 250-0520 or visit their website at www.fulcrumtacoma.com.