Drawings

Drawings on Wood

One of my favorite materials to draw on is wood using graphite pencils to build up layers of values. As I draw, I think about the specific type of tree and the stories of growth, history, and manufacturing that brought each time capsule of wood panel to my studio. I combine the wood grain patterns with drawings of disparate objects and remnants of past yearnings such as typewriters, telephones, and victrola horns - inventions that connected people spreading ideas, stories, and art.

Drawings on Player Piano Rolls

As my collection of Player Piano Rolls continues, I especially seek rolls that include karaoke-like sing-along text on the side. As I do not have a player piano and since many of the rolls I have are unplayable, I cannot hear the voice of these paper rolls that contain audible memory. This technological ancestor of the cassette and compact disc, the player piano was first invented in the mid-19th century as a pneumatic (air-powered) method for recording, reading, and playing music.

As I design, I seek text of the music as inspiration for and to work in combination with drawings as visual poems. These fragments of player piano rolls contain analog memory of a specific song, but as they are silent, I reassess their current silence and develop new stories and voices using carefully applied graphite on the surface of the paper.

Drawings with and for Sculpture

Drawing continues to be a primary way that I plan and visualize sculptures and installations. Working on paper in graphite and charcoal is freeing since on the page there is no gravity and the sculptural form can extend, bend, and float as I explore what areas of a form I want to translate into the future installation. However, what starts in a planning stage occasionally become separate artworks or become part of a larger installation in which charcoal is one of the main media for an ephemeral experience.