Thinking About Bark

Every morning I take a walk around San Jose where I'm temporarily living until I head to San Francisco and every morning it seems, I spot a plant or tree I've never seen before. When it comes to trees I often notice the bark first, which is more textured, layered, and complex than any trees I've lived around before. I started collecting pictures of bark on my first walk and have been adding to the collection over the past couple of weeks. My observations got me thinking about what bark is, what its purpose is, and what it can symbolize. Bark serves as a form of protection from other living things, from weather, and all sorts of outside forces. It helps get nutrients to the rest of the tree, keeps moisture in, and out, and insulates from cold and heat. It's also constantly renewing itself. I see it, first and foremost, as a protection mechanism, and have been contemplating all the ways we humans protect ourselves from physical, mental, and emotional dangers, all the mechanisms we use, or try to use. I'm also thinking about renewal... 

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Thinking About Light

I don't write my "Thinking About" posts often and thought it was time to write a new one with some recent observations. Previously, I have written about abandoned spaces, atmosphere, texture, and white here and here. Today I share with you some thoughts on light. I notice light throughout the day, but lately something has gotten me to look even closer. I like observing how light reflects and refracts, diffuses, and fills a space; how it highlights certain things, creates shadows and patterns, and establishes emotional qualities that can have everything and nothing to do with the place the light is cast. Light has a presence and can become an entity of its own without being something one can touch.

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Onward Ideas, Thinking About: Texture

Tara Donovan, Untitled, Pace Gallery

Every so often I post a "Thinking About," a short paragraph and several pictures on a theme I've noticed in my daily observations. There have only been a few so far: white, white addendum, atmosphere and abandoned spaces. Lately, texture has been on my mind and I realized the other day while taking a photograph of a favorite tree variety, the "smoke tree," that similar textures keep catching my eye. Like a flash, different images raced through my mind: a Tara Donovan piece I saw in NYC a few weeks ago then the cover of the new Gus Gus record which I have been listening to a lot immediately followed by the image of a giant, tinsel-covered creature I pinned to Pinterest months ago. That very night I went home and found a mineral with a similar look in my news feed from geologypage.com. The collection of images hitting me all at once really made me stop and think. The softness and the spikiness, the billowing upward and outward movement, the individual elements and their accumulation…there is so much to study and consider here. Since I'm developing ideas for sculpture and installation right now, these themes are the places I need to focus on and begin with.

smoke tree near my studio

Gus Gus record cover

Troy Emery, Golden Beast, 2012

Powellite

And with that, I'm going to try to write more "Thinking About" posts. It's always good for me to deliberately consider what I'm noticing, write it down and then share it in a public format. 

Thanks for reading.

Thinking About Abandoned Spaces

I've been curious about abandoned spaces for as long as I can remember. My grandparents lived about 20 minutes away and every time we drove to their house I would stare out the window in anticipation of falling down farm houses and derelict barns along the way. I had memorized where they were located and would take in as much as I could from the car window as we sped past. I collect images of abandoned spaces now and like to get as close to them as I can, perhaps because years ago I could not. I find such beauty and life in places like this...

All of the images here replaces located in Richfield Springs, NY

More images on Flickr and Facebook.

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Thinking About Atmosphere

When I was still in Asheville, I started paying close attention to what I call "atmosphere." I have continued to try to create this in my photos here in Richfield Springs, through night time photos, macro lens shots of snow and hazy images through curtains. I'm trying to create and capture a feeling through these pictures, while training my eye to see better. 

I just added lots of new images to Facebook.

Thanks for reading.

P.S. There is no filter on any of these photographs. The hazy effects are created via condensation on my lens or on the window I'm shooting through, while other effects happen just by the angle of my camera. 

Thinking About White (Addendum)

About a month ago I posted about the color white as an observation and as used in my work. I've been thinking about that post a lot and other themes or patterns in my work. I've been studying my photographs, too, something else I do often. Looking closely at my pictures shows me what I am interested in--sometimes it's a general theme, sometimes it's more about details or small parts, some patterns have been around for awhile, some are new. (I also imagine there are patterns that I don't see yet and maybe won't for awhile to come.) Here is a small collection of white photographs to complement my white post from December. It's also a way to kick-off a new series about my photos and these patterns...I will post another theme or pattern I'm thinking about soon.

If you are interested in my photos, please visit my Flickr or find me on Instagram. I've also posted some of my favorite pictures on my website.

Thanks for reading. 

Thinking About White

white spray paint

Flower Brooch from "Fabricated Memory: Jewelry Box, 1980

When I first arrived at my new home in Upstate New York everything was covered in snow and it snowed every day for several consecutive days. Then it rained and it kept raining and now there is no snow. The white and then absence of white has made me think again about white in my work: white spray paint, white thread, white lace, white enamel…

paper doilies

detail of Ruff No. 1 from Observation Series

white thread

detail of a Necklace from Heat Exchange 

white enamel

"Winter," an enameled book

more white thread

detail of "Island of 14,264 Days"

I created a white set on Flickr, too, with all sorts of images of white in my work.

Thanks for reading.