"Trona!" - Print (16x20)
Dimensions: 16x20 inches
“Trona!” was commissioned by the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art as part of Noelle Phares’s 2024 exhibition that explored the Colorado River. Industrial uses of river water was the central theme of this painting, with an oversized chunk of Trona erupting out of the earth. Trona is a mineral heavily mined in the Sweetwater County region of Wyoming along the Green River - a major tributary of the Colorado.
An excerpt of poetry from the exhibition about this piece:
“These upper waters wend through mining country,
the great trona beds of Sweetwater
left to sweat by the ancient Lake Gosiute for a time
now erupting reluctantly from the ground
under the forceful hands of men
the river’s young waters enslaved in the task
of washing ore day after day”
Noelle Phares is a Denver-based artist who blends landscape with geometric structure to explore the intersection of nature and human impact. With a background in biochemistry and environmental science, her work reflects a deep concern for the environment, creating fractured, architectural landscapes that highlight the tension between organic and synthetic. Noelle has exhibited internationally and collaborated with brands like Merrell, Smartwool, and 4FRNT Skis.
