Art

Deconstructed Charcoal Drawings 

 

Triptych A 15"x 33" 

Triptych B 15"x 33" 

Triptych C 15"x 33" 

Triptych D 15"x 33" 

Triptych E 15"x 33" 

Triptych F 15"x 33" 

Triptych G 15" x 33"

Triptych H 15"x 33" 

 

After a winter storm, many trees fell or broke under the weight of the ice, losing branches and limbs. I helped my husband pile wood into a fire for hours one afternoon until the debris was cleared away.

I've spent quite a bit of time thinking about reductive mark-making that would not rely on my skills as an artist in the traditional sense, but instead on actions like dripping paint or applying ink to objects and rolling, dragging, or otherwise moving them across a surface to leave unscripted marks.

In the Spring of 2024, deep in thought about this idea, I looked out into the yard and realized that what was once the burn pile was now a massive supply of charcoal just waiting to be experimented with. I got to work. Because the charcoal came from branches and limbs it wasn't uniform in shape, texture, thickness, or density, unlike drawing charcoal from a store. What I realized very quickly was that rather than removing myself from the process as I had intended, I had made it far more direct and intimate. As marks begin to appear, the direction and layering of my movements informs the density and the spaces left open. I could feel the texture of the paper's surface when dragging a thick piece, or the way it crumbled under the pressure of my hand. Sometimes it skipped or chattered because of its shape; other times the density and irregularity made it roll, barely leaving a mark at all. This body of work is the result.