Nebraska — isabellauliasz

In fall 2026 I spent two weeks at Art Farm in Nebraska as a resident artist. While I was there I developed a series of black walnut dye prints using various iterations of walnut dye and different methods of application. I also spent time hanging out at and taking photos of the nearby Platte River, which was shallow and easy to wade through. I used the photos I took there to do some laser etchings on some of the prints, as well as glass sheets, which later became a sculpture that I actualized after returning home from Nebraska.

I titled this body of prints “Platte” in reference to the Platte River in eastern Nebraska, whose shallow channels braid the landscape with small islands and glittering patches of blue-tipped prairie grass. This series was produced near the Platte and incorporates imagery of the river.

Black walnut has detoxifying and antifungal properties. The trees produce an organic compound called juglone which suppresses the growth of competing plants, stopping them from absorbing its sunlight. The verdant fruit encasing the hulls has the bright, sharp scent of pine resin and citrus. Black walnuts ripen in Autumn, thudding to the ground and staining the tiny hands of hungry squirrels who leave small piles of hulls littered around the bases of the trees. The energies of this plant are persistent, cleansing, and self-affirming.

Below is an example of a laser etched print lit from behind.

I created this sculputure with the glass panels I etched in Nebraska after I came home. This piece was featured in a group art show I organized in Providence, RI shortly after coming back from my residency.

A view of one of many cornfields surrounding Art Farm at sunset.