White Wash
All wave drawings are ink and ink washes on paper.
I spent a month in Vermont a few years ago where a good amount of time was focused on making art. The river was just outside of my window and was a main presence in the area. It rained so much while I was there it became a theme in some of my work. So I got an idea to stage an installation.
The activity and “notations” were my initial impressions of the repetitive patterns of the water and the all-absorbing surround-sound as the river gushed past my studio building. The act of drawing served as an inner calming of an outer world; the roar became white noise. I began to draw, one ink wave after another. As the river changed, so did the drawings—passive; tumult—according to my changing “model”.
The drawings were not just a journalizing of my observations; they recorded my body’s internalized experience of the intensity of the river. This focused act was a vehicle to bring about tranquility. What resulted from this whole body experience was the proposal for White Wash, The Story Of A Tsunami That Hit a Small New England Town. This was a mythically-staged event that involved fear, humor and the unexpected in our ecosystem.
