Blog as archive

From this point back on the blog, the older posts act as a portfolio / archive. These posts document selected pieces that best represent the progression of my ideas and art practice.

Some work needs to be rephotographed and other pieces need to be added, but the basic structure remains: each entry is dated December 31st of the year the work was produced and/or exhibited and I update or edit as often as I'm able.

You can find older progress posts at Fiber Art Studio, my previous studio blog site.

Instance of Resistance

Instance of Resistance #10: Feral greenery in the underground city
digital photos on fabric over-stitched onto canvas
2008
3' x 4'

detail below:


When I lived in Knoxville, TN, I took these photos in the underground city outside my studio on Gay Street. Here is an article by Jack Neely explaining a bit of the history of the city below the city

This work is part of a series I call Instances of Resistance where I search out and photograph feral plant life growing among human construction / ruins.

Instances of Resistance

Instance graffiti #4: 11 feral plants, 8 twigs and 1 cross-beam in brick ruin
digital print and pencil
2008
8" x 10"

Instance graffiti #1: 12 feral plants among others in brick ruin
digital print and pencil
2008
8" x 10"

These are from a series of the digital photos of feral plant life that I printed onto Bristol Board then drew over with a soft-lead pencil.

I chose drawing as the medium because I wanted to put my own hand into the photos and make a connection between the role of subjectivity in my art practice and the un-tameable, rogue plant-life. I also thought that drawing would be the best way to animate the plants with playful and caricature-like personas.

I enjoy how these pieces invoke nostalgia (a theme in my work) with their simultaneously shadowy presence and candy-like preciousness.