Thursday, November 7, 2019

PAPER: TEXTURE AND FORM

Hello? Anyone still out there?
My apologies for being absent...sometimes life, full of facets, pulls us in other directions...
However, here I am to share more of my creative nature...better late than not at all.

Bainbridge Arts & Crafts Gallery is under the guidance of a new director, Steve Tremble, and appears to be moving toward exciting higher visions. They previously went through some rebranding with identity and name changes and the like which resulted in a lot of various pains, but ultimately they've come back to their home-ground and have returned to who they were since they were founded in 1948 and grew from, Bainbridge Arts & Crafts Gallery.

Thier recent October 2019 invitational group show, PAPER: TEXTURE AND FORM, in which I participated, was focused on the versatile applications of paper. Here is the description from the BAC website...
PAPER: TEXTURE AND FORM - The beauty of paper is in the range of possibilities it invites and diversity of work it generates. This is reflected in this exhibition of 17 exceptional artists: Mary Ashton, Danielle Bodine, Jeff Brice, Heather Griffin, Victoria Foster Harrison, Lois James, Linda Jarvis, Tracy Lang, MJ Linford, Linda McClamrock, Nikki McClure, Dorothy McGuinness, Shane Miller, Debbie Peek, Jean-Marie Tarascio, Sande Wascher-James, and Helga Winter.

Artists were asked to write an Artist Statement for this show. This is mine :
I have worked with many natural materials, paper being one of them.  So having been presented with the invitation to participate in the Paper Show, it naturally felt inherent…Paper is a very fascinating material that can be manufactured or created in your kitchen or studio. Handcrafted papers from the pulp of wood or other fibrous materials carry a wonderful quality that can easily be individualized with play and experimentation. Paper’s versatility ranges from being used for drawing, printing,  writing, or for wrapping as well as other artistic and imaginative applications. It is one of my favored media.

The one paper I am most taken by is that of the paper which paper-wasps artistically create displaying color, patterns and fantastic designs born of various wood fibers they collect for building a nest. Intriguingly I have collected many abandoned wasp shelters over the years for use and examination. Undoubtedly, they are superb works of art in and of themselves. Using my inborn intrigue with this amazing raw element of natural material I created INGENIOUS ARCHITECTURE. Envelopment by the artfully crafted fibers creates a residence, a home, a dwelling. 

Nature is miraculous and never ceases to amaze me and keep me in awe. Paper is of nature as are we all.


Linda Jarvis


Much of my work has utilized paper. I've only dabbled in paper-making, but I've collected a various array of art papers, some of which are hard to part with.

This first piece is one that gave me much pleasure and intrigue into the beautiful paper that the industrial paper-wasps make for building their dwellings.

INGENIOUS ARCHITECTURE 
I started with a wonderfully weathered 4 X 4 block of wood I fashioned into a house shape, handcrafted paper for the roof, paper-wasp paper on the surface of the wood, beads for feet and a twig representing where the wasps build their homes. It was my commentary for bringing awareness of our natural world that is being blanketed by human-kind conduct and actions putting our environment, wildlife and various pollinators in jeopardy, thus being smothered, by our ways and negligence.
 This was the beginnings of this piece...applying selected the paper from a wasp nest.
 This image and the one below are close-up shots to show the beauty and intricacy of the wasp paper.
This image is of the finished piece, INGENIOUS ARCHITECTURE.

NATURE'S SHRINE 
All my work consists of mixed media. This piece started with a house shape I created from foam-core board with an inset then covered with art paper, 2 bi-fold cardboard pieces for the roof, square brass tube, flat disc beads, poppy pods, brass tacks, sticks, scrabble tiles for feet. In the inset niche I placed the beautiful seed pods of Genus Lunaria, aka Money Plant or Honesty branches. It progressed into my statement with regard to our protecting what is left of our natural world and wilderness'. 
 In studio completing the assembling, placing the seed pod branches within the niche of Nature's Shrine.
Finished piece...NATURE'S SHRINE

PAINTING THE NIGHT SKY WITH NEW CONSTELLATIONS
I enjoyed playing with the markings or from my perspective, "constellations" on the tissue-paper pattern used for sewing. It is covering foam-core board that I constructed into a house shape, aluminum sheeting for the roof, aluminum foil covered make-up brush, street-sweeper metal brush bristles, tacks, mica for the windows and beads. I am in awe of our continued discoveries of our cosmos and galaxies and stars and planets...oh my!


Last, but certainly not least is RED ALERT! 
This is the beginning of RED ALERT! assembling as I go...As I moved along with it's evolution, it eventually spoke it's message to me progressing into an alarm to the loss of our birds and other wild beings...how the practices and behaviors of the human-kind have been diminishing their populations.

Many materials went into bringing this piece to completion...I painted a wooden egg red, added some dead lichen to a twig nest for it to rest in, all then set on a couple of paper discs from fireworks remnants, added feathers, a pastry icing cone, chipboard cone, aged paper-blind paper, wall-paper covered chipboard box, painted handcrafted paper covered chipboard nut container, more feathers set in aluminum tarp rivets, red/black boot lace metal canister top and map pins..



Finished piece, RED ALERT!

The show itself was beautiful and diversified. The opening was well attended, numerous sales, and many questions asked of the artists regarding their work and processes.

Thank you for revisiting this site. I hope I have not discouraged anyone from continuing to visit despite my sometimes being absent with new content...

Remember to click on any image to enlarge it to see more visual detail.


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