Louise Hopkins Underwood Center for the Arts
June 3- July 31, 2015
My exhibition referenced my studio and what happened on those walls from December 2013 to May 2015. This body of work was installed at the Underwood Center with an arrangement which indicated when each 2 or 3-dimensional object came into existence. No work made during this 18 month window appeared in the exhibition with a title. Two older works (Order & Disorder --- "Borrowed Parts" and Terrazzo/Texas Falls) were included in the exhibition because they were "living" on the studio walls in December 2013. In many ways they initiated explorations which began in December 2013. I started in that December with the intention to make another work which explored the collage border that appeared on the older work, Terrazzo/Texas Falls. At the same time, I made a long white paper chain in order to create a 'pile of chain links'. My plan was to photograph, print and then work from selected "crops" of that pile of chain links. At the time, I imagined that these cropped-shots of white chain links might offer another interpretation (translation) of the waterfall in the center panel of Terrazzo/Texas Falls. From this intention, mental/visual tangents began linking one work to another, each exploration suggesting another version or suggesting the exploration of a tangent of that version. The older work, Order and Disorder---Borrowed Parts, got "into the mix" as it became a handy hanger for the long paper chain I had just made to use use for photographic reference. ((I spent so much effort making that chain I wanted to preserve it in mint condition.)) However, the informal arrangement of the vulnerable paper chain draped across the larger wooden object, in itself, suggested keeping this combination of elements as an idea.
I am particularly aware of these other influences which found their way into the work over that 18 months window:
A group of drawing books garnered from the closing sale of Larry McMurtry’s bookshops in Archer City, Texas. These books contained: An exhibition catalogue of Leonardo’s notebook drawings of moving water, clouds, and fragments of script; AND two books on Northern Renaissance drawing with many images of chiaroscuro drawing on toned papers, especially dark green and red.
A road trip on Route 83 north from the Texas border through land I had never seen --- from the western mid-west to Mount Rushmore, the Badlands of South Dakota (and eastern Montana) to Wyoming and the Devils Tower, south to the Santa Fe Trail along the Arkansas River in eastern Colorado.
My studio walls, where unexplored images and notes "live", accompanied by units and fragments from older works which stare down at me from their random “storage” locations on the studio walls.
Some of the works in this installation have become a bridge to somewhere else and some of these works will be shown in future venues. These issues are often better figured out after I first see the work outside of the studio.
I am particularly aware of these other influences which found their way into the work over that 18 months window:
A group of drawing books garnered from the closing sale of Larry McMurtry’s bookshops in Archer City, Texas. These books contained: An exhibition catalogue of Leonardo’s notebook drawings of moving water, clouds, and fragments of script; AND two books on Northern Renaissance drawing with many images of chiaroscuro drawing on toned papers, especially dark green and red.
A road trip on Route 83 north from the Texas border through land I had never seen --- from the western mid-west to Mount Rushmore, the Badlands of South Dakota (and eastern Montana) to Wyoming and the Devils Tower, south to the Santa Fe Trail along the Arkansas River in eastern Colorado.
My studio walls, where unexplored images and notes "live", accompanied by units and fragments from older works which stare down at me from their random “storage” locations on the studio walls.
Some of the works in this installation have become a bridge to somewhere else and some of these works will be shown in future venues. These issues are often better figured out after I first see the work outside of the studio.
digital study of paper chain pile
white chain study 36" x 48" acrylic on wood
white & gray studies each 36" x 48" paper chain w/ wood hummingbirds
Order & Disorder --- "Borrowed Parts" (with white paper chain) 87"x 74" x 10"
acrylic on engraved wood, w/ carved basswood elements
Order & Disorder --- Terrazzo (Texas Falls, VT) 64" x 84"x 4"
digitally printed rice paper; acrylic on wood
48" x 60" study of white chains with digital collage border
acrylic on wood: digitally printed rice paper
The metal chains, pulleys, gear wheels and tracks which appear overhead are part of the "antique" equipment remaining in this gallery. What is now one gallery originally served as the mechanical room for a fire station at this renovated location.
paper chain and hummingbird "factory"// 14olb. watercolor paper and basswood
the rufous, broadtail, and blue-throated hummingbirds were used as push-pins
to hold the assortment of paper chains into position on the wall
Intermezzo studies 2 & 3 (Brahms and Durer) each 30" x 35"
acrylic on engraved wood and paper collage
red chain study 48" x 60" acrylic on wood: digital print on rice paper collage
My studio wall storage was reinstalled (as seen below) pretty much as it was randomly arranged, where 3-dimensional units of others works, old photographs, and tools get stored for convenience. My old "boom-box" was also part of the installation as it played tracks of my favorite classical, pop and show tunes.
study "Unfinished Chains" 36" x 48" acrylic on wood
study Intermezzo 4 (Brahms) 38" x 48" acrylic on engraved wood
Intermezzo 5 48" x 60" acrylic on wood & collage
Intermezzo 1 (Da Vinci cloud) 35" x 30" acrylic on engraved wood
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