Derick Wycherly

In Land is an exhibition of prints and handmade paper focusing on land, water, and all life supported by Earth. Patterns repeat across variable editions, assembled into geometric fields raggedly divided by deckled edges. Each panel represents the collision and reorganization of materials and processes; an opening for chance operation.

Water is an essential collaborator in paper making, leaving soft marks on freshly formed sheets as they drain through a matrix of fiber. Each fiber is a legacy of organic growth and anonymous labor, each vibrant pigment the slow fruit of geologic processes.

These wall works are an abstract interpretation of land made to masquerade as commodity, but through its making is revealed to be a giver of life; a relation who needs protection from those who it supports. In Land represents a reciprocal relationship with Nature even as it underscores the impact of extractive economic practices and colonial occupation. As each individual sheet is claimed and sold the installation grows smaller. The symbol is broken down into its smallest parts and disseminated.

Derick Wycherly (Chippewa Cree, Rocky Boy), born and based in Missoula, MT, is a visual artist specializing in printmaking and handmade paper. His works on paper become installations that conceptualize land through pattern design. Derick earned an MFA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison (2022) and a BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, RI (2011). He served as a printer and studio manager for the etching workshop Harlan & Weaver in New York City from 2012 to 2019. His artwork and writing has been featured in Hand Papermaking Magazine. Wycherly received a 2022 LIFT award from the Native Arts and Culture Foundation in Portland, OR. Derick is currently the Associate Curator / Collections Manager of the Montana Museum of Art and Culture in Missoula, MT.