Arboretum Show
My art utilizes found wood as a conduit for an exploration of the energy found in nature. With the original grain as my guide, I work to transform scrap wood into works of art that highlight natural design, and hope to share the idea that everything has an inherent beauty when the time is taken to look at it from a new perspective. This exhibit features new works inspired by the colors of the Arboretum, as well as older works inspired by a variety of natural elements.
There is so much beauty in the Arboretum that it is hard not to feel moved as you walk through the paths and take in the magnificence all around. I decided to work from photographs taken between Lilac Sunday and the foliage season of 2010. Though finding the inspiration was easy, I then worked to study the stacks of scrap wood I had accumulated in my studio so as to find the right “canvas” to explore the colors and patterns captured in the photographs. Paints used all are leftovers from a past mural project (yay recycling!) and are from a new line of zero VOC paints that are environmentally friendly.
The original photographs are included in the exhibit as well so that the viewer can look deeper at the imagery to find the hidden colors that I discovered upon closer examination. Did you know that there is turquoise is some bark? Pink and orange in some tree knots? What other secret colors might be hiding in nature right in front of you? Perhaps your next walk through the Arboretum will lead to the discovery of something that has been right in front of you all along but never before realized.
