Main Statement

In my drawings, I explore the relationship between mark making, time, space ,and thinking to see how they can affect and redevelop each other. I work between mediums and dimensions to expand the concept of drawing to include installations, works on paper, and photography. Works are composed of marks that are signs of time and, referencing artist Avis Newman, thought. Sunlight, shadow, architecture, nature,  daily life,  and movement propel works. Martin Heidegger and Eastern philosophy are also influences. I work responsively in the space in-between these entities for greater reflection. That is where experimentation happens and a drawing opens to what it can be.

Newman's statement, “A mark is a sign of thought.”, informs my Art on many levels. As the hand or body makes a line across paper or space, what happens inside the mind? This evolved into an interest in the relationship between drawing and time. How is time experienced when mark making? In his book Being and Time, philosopher Martin Heidegger writes, "Being and time determine each other reciprocally…". I question how the drawing process can factor into this dialogue. Furthermore, Taoism informs my practice, as I aim to work from an even perspective. 

Recent works question how drawings can emerge from light and shadow interactions in everyday surroundings.  This activity encourages mindful observation of latent, momentary phenomena.  In current works on paper (Sun and Site Drawings and Garden Shadow Happenings) sunlight is recorded as it moves in relation to structures in the built or natural environments over set increments of time.  Rendering in intervals allows for full engagement in the mark making process and allows one to focus on being” while working rather than “doing”.  Surprising alignments stir harmonies and  epiphanic moments of clarity. 

Walking Drawings extend concepts by recording light and shadow and interplay upon nature and architecture while in motion. I engage in a responsive mark making process during walks after work or on the weekend. This activity encourages mindfulness while passing through the local landscape.

Resulting works are frameworks of consideration to see what may happen next.

Satellite Statements on Current Series:

Sun and Sight Works

Current series Sun and Sight Works question how drawing, time, space, and thinking can affect and redevelop each other. These works on paper explore how the interplay of light and shadow upon architecture can redefine how place can be seen and experienced. Quantum physics is also an influence.

Around the winter solstice, I documented the interplay of sunlight and shadow upon cement slabs at a nearby site. The several hours spent (over a few days) on this activity created an immersive experience. Lines and shapes shifted on the cement as the body moved in relation with them. A spatial drawing emerged in real time altering how the site was perceived.

As this 3D drawing manifested, I documented the site from many angles and vantage points. The resulting digital images were then turned into drawings. The process of rendering the shadow interplay on paper became a way to meditate on what was seen and think of what could happen next.

Works on paper were first made in sequence of the order they were shot, one frame at a time. Over a few weeks, the digital images were projected upon each other and traced to interplay the spatial drawing’s shadow movements. Multiple time frames came together on one paper. It called to mind physicist Carlo Rovelli’s ideas about the quantum world in his book The Order of Time, where “Time is not linear, but rather a web of interconnected moments, constantly folding back upon itself”. In this process, forms and the space overlapped and fragmented, creating a landscape of varied lines, shapes, and tones. Alignments and harmonies emerged between them.

Garden (Shadow Happenings)

Garden Shadow Happenings question how drawings can emerge from light and shadow interactions from my everyday surroundings. I mark sunlight on paper as it shifts and interacts with plants in my garden. Recording light fluctuations allows one to observe what is happening beyond the foliage and uncover latent, momentary phenomena. It immerses one in the garden’s textures and fragrances to expand the experience. As the wind blows the hand delineates movements of the leaves. After several hours of marking, the resulting drawings become a record of moments spent and time passage.

 

Over time, the garden becomes a drawing, blurring the line between it and my own work. During the tracing process, the movements of my hand merge with those of the plants, forming a semiotic relationship. 

Time Lines (Projections) Installation

The recent installation Time Lines (Projections) explores how dimensionality, architectural space, and time can affect the development of a drawing and thinking. Shadows cast by the sun coming through a window (in relation to architecture) along with projections of shadows were traced onto paper. 3D marks (made with dowels) are then interrelated with the 2D lines, creating a dialogue between dimensions and space. Works are then placed on the walls, floors, and corners of an environment to converse and see what happens next.

Walking Drawings

How can drawing merge with daily life to see and experience both in unusual and surprising ways?

In Walking Drawings, I engage in a responsive mark making process with my surroundings while in flux. This activity encourages being fully present to the environment as one passes through it. Marks are made on paper as the body bobs up and down to translate the experience. Drawing this way encourages “being” rather than “doing”. Over time, this process awakens the senses to not only see what is around, but to feel and become immersed in the sounds and textures. Recent works were created while on nature walks in the early spring and summer. The lightness of the blooms and air flow were inspirations. These series encourages taking time to become immersed the local landscape and notice what is happening.

I am also interested in how these works can be documented on site and how that can offer unusual ways of creating installations. 

Sight Drawings

Sight Drawings are drawings seen in passing. They may share formal qualities, like line, and tone, with traditional works, or stir the imagination for new ones to come. No interventions are made. They are images of what could become.

The Shadows and Shimmer in the City series focuses on the interplay of light and shadow, seen as marks, upon urban architecture and how drawings can develop out of this often overlooked, everyday occurrence. Photos are taken when driving or walking around the city. Sometimes I seek them out while other times they find me.

Archiv:

Between 0 and 1:

“All things are continually interacting with each other, and in doing so each bears the traces of that with which it has interacted:...”
― Carlo Rovelli, Seven Brief Lessons on Physics

The works on paper, Between 0 and 1, explore the link between drawing, time, and thinking at the quantum level. In that micro-world, myriad interactions occur in matter between these small numeric values. Works are made by tracing sunlight as it shifts in relation to architecture over several weeks. The accumulation of lines become a record of the sun’s tracks; metaphors for the ephemeral nature thought. Their interweaving calls for further responsive mark making. Epiphanic moments of clarity emerge when seemingly random lines align and harmonize.

Progressions

How can dimensions and diverse media affect how a drawing develops? 

Progressions, Shuffling(s), and Reshufflings: Dialogue Between Dimensions:

The Progression(s) and Shuffling(s) series explore a dialogue between dimensions, media, and time to expand how to see and experience drawing. 

Conglomerate (Progressions) are photographs of geometric constructions built in relation to light and shadow. The term progressions alludes to successions of musical chords produced over time to stir harmonies. These constructions changed in form as sunlight shifted over the course of several hours on cement. Different stages of the activity were photographed and times are noted in the titles.

Under Currents: Installations

Much like Sight Drawings, current installations focus on temporality and the interplay of light and shadow upon architecture or geometric structures. They grow out of moments in time; when light enters a window or peeps through the slits in a wooden deck. Interventions are made with small scale geometric materials like cinderblocks to stir a drawing into being. Shifts in lighting and shadow are documented. The resulting static. digital images contrast the movement of light.  

Conglomerates

Using ordinary construction materials such as tiles, shelves, and molding...works from the Conglomerate series (2007-ongoing) occupy a space between drawing, sculpture, and architecture... the elements 'interact in "states of tension and flow'." (Margaret Winslow).