Nature Reconsidered Exhibit Juror's Statement

 

It was nice to win 1^st Place in the Nature Reconsidered Exhibition. The Juror's Statement by Myles Calvert, Assistant Professor – Printmaking, College of Visual and Performing Arts, Winthrop University is very well written. 

Considerations such as warm paper hue, make this graphite drawing / textured rubbing, a stand out work. Gestural marks, which are seemingly spontaneous are, in fact, carefully considered and logically placed. Areas of intense detail allow for a restful area of photographic calm, before moving to texture-heavy offerings of what a tree should feel like. The drawing allows for artistic freedom but does not fall short of pairing a refreshing use of positive / negative space and stimulating the mind to what branches may even smell like. A familiar image ratio combined with unusual cropping, dictates a contemporary expression of a truly explored and historical subject.

This statement reminds me of how my friend Don Michael can write about art! 

 

Drawing 11 in the Tree Series in Honor of Earth Day 2020

Drawing 11 in the series is pretty bold. No branches, no leaves, just texture. There are two pine trees in the drawing, one was struck by lightning. The edge of the bark was really fun to work on. 

Earth Day 2020 was last week.  I want my tree drawings, and the viewer’s understanding of how they relate to world climate events, to be as universally accessible and familiar as elementary school art class.

I hope that this Tree Series brings trees into our daily conversation so we can talk about climate change in a way that is personal to us. I share my work with others to provide common ground to work toward common purpose.