For an artist traveling through different landscapes it is like pausing
to reorient the compass. Suddenly, the terrain and the assumptions of
how the light moves across my vision shifts into a fresh arrangement.
The change in daylight and my desire to document and translate it
through my hand is undeniable. Over the years I have kept journals as I
have lived and traveled through France, New York City, Maryland,
Mexico, Japan, Korea, Italy, Virginia, and Maine. I don't invent
landscape, but work from what is in front of me. I distill the grasses
outside of my Virginia studio window into brushwork on plates. The
horizon line in Maine is transformed into lines on square plates. The
geography of the Maryland clay mine is physically integrated into new
shapes. Revisiting an island off the coast of Maine for the last twenty
years reorients my compass on an annual basis. The isolation and
retreat from the normal interruptions of life serve as a compass,
clock, and kaleidoscope all rolled into one. As the twist of the barrel
reorients color, Maine grounds my soul with cold water and solid time
for reading, writing, and painting.
The exhibit northeastsouthwest opened last night in The Plains, Virginia at Zigzag Gallery. Both Warren Frederick and I have work in the show. Warren's photos are beautiful reminders of varied geography of Stancill's clay mine. I have two cup boxes (one shown above) and two artist books created in Maine. The exhibition of cartographic, geographically-oriented, and explorer-bound art includes a total 19 artists both local and from around the globe who move through space to collect place. The exhibition is open from Thursday, September, 10 to Sunday, October 4, 2009.
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