"Nothing Solid Here" - Farewell Spit Artist Residency 2011 / 2012
Apart from the lighthouse, there is nothing solid on Farewell Spit. The land itself is a result of longshore drift: Sediment washed from the mountains, carried by the sea and deposited as the wind and tides collide. There is ‘nothing solid here’, and at the same time the vastness all around me is very solid and dependable. I lean into the spaciousness and the lack of solidity and try to let go.
When I do let go, there is a physical sense of unraveling. This is good unraveling, not the madness it might suggest. The unraveling is a waking up to just what is here, this grain of sand, this feeling in my toes, this windy blast. What unravels is all the rest.
So I go in search of unraveling. I find it all around me; fragile roots beneath the sand, patterns recalling the wind’s movement, rivulets of retreating water, metal cages rusting in the dunes, gannets soaring. I depict this unraveling in the imagery of my work, but more so I want to experience it in how I work. Back in the studio I try to paint from the toes up, not the head down. But how to unravel those faithful companions; the fear, the doubt, the ego, and the rest?
The lighthouse has become a symbol for that which holds back the unraveling. It is so majestic in its efforts to make safe. We all want solid ground. Yet this particular solid ground wrecks ships and beaches whales. How to truly unravel this?
The wax moves from solid to liquid and back again.
Meanwhile the tides leave unseen traces on distant shores,
and I am blown away.
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When I do let go, there is a physical sense of unraveling. This is good unraveling, not the madness it might suggest. The unraveling is a waking up to just what is here, this grain of sand, this feeling in my toes, this windy blast. What unravels is all the rest.
So I go in search of unraveling. I find it all around me; fragile roots beneath the sand, patterns recalling the wind’s movement, rivulets of retreating water, metal cages rusting in the dunes, gannets soaring. I depict this unraveling in the imagery of my work, but more so I want to experience it in how I work. Back in the studio I try to paint from the toes up, not the head down. But how to unravel those faithful companions; the fear, the doubt, the ego, and the rest?
The lighthouse has become a symbol for that which holds back the unraveling. It is so majestic in its efforts to make safe. We all want solid ground. Yet this particular solid ground wrecks ships and beaches whales. How to truly unravel this?
The wax moves from solid to liquid and back again.
Meanwhile the tides leave unseen traces on distant shores,
and I am blown away.
See Paintings See Photos Back to Artist Statements