The Flower Press

On the evening of May 8, the Lincoln Center Gallery in Fort Collins hosted the opening reception for The Bright Side, an exhibit celebrating the power of bright color and uplifting energy through a dynamic mix of artistic styles. Among the four featured artists was Tricia Soderberg — a Colorado based mixed media artist whose abstract botanical prints and collages explore the cycle of cultivation and transformation. This profile is the latest in an ongoing series on northern Colorado’s botanical artists.

Soderberg did not start with abstraction. Her early work was rooted in traditional landscape painting featuring wide vistas and  recognizable terrain. But as she moved into printmaking, her attention shifted. Drawn to the flat shapes and deliberate negative space of Japanese printmakers, she began looking closer into the landscape rather than across it. The result was a body of work that isolates botanical species — eucalyptus, peonies, aspens — and strips them down to their essential geometry. The works in The Bright Side center entirely on the iris, grown in her own backyard.

Soderberg’s studio process is as intuitive as the work looks. She inks botanical shapes, arranges them in intentionally random compositions, and runs them through the press. Sheets are sometimes pressed together — a sandwich technique that yields unexpected results she then responds to. Decorative paper forms the collage foundation, layered with metallic paint to echo and extend the tonal relationships already present.

What emerges, viewers keep telling her, is joy. “I’ve been accused lately that my work is very joyful,” Soderberg said with a laugh. “I’m at a point in my life where I feel very free — and I think that freedom is showing through in my work.” It is a response that aligns with recent research showing that botanical imagery — even abstracted and painted — produces measurable positive emotional responses in viewers.

Next up for Soderberg: a new series built around the clematis growing in her home garden. The Bright Side runs through June 12 at the Lincoln Center Gallery, Wednesdays and Fridays, 1–6 pm, free admission.

Tricia Soderberg is based in Colorado Springs, Colorado. See her full portfolio at triciasoderberg.com and @triciasoderbergart