Glance over the shoulder from whence we came
Bottle, wood, 7" x 8" x 1.25", 2008As I mentioned before, there were many steps leading to the genesis of BrokenLineStudio. One of those steps was a brief exploration into the possibilities of using wood to create images working directly from life studies. I first considered this while I worked at Walker Creek Furniture, but the time was not available to act on the idea. Later, after going to California for the summer and returning in the fall, I found the time.
That fall I took a painting class at Montserrat College of Art. What I learned in class about color and line I employed in the workshop. I used wood that I had collected at my new job, sub-contracting for Ebersole Construction. The wood came from a number of different sites and it provided me with an adequate palate. These are examples of pieces I made that fall.
Other Bottle, wood, 8" x 9" x 1.25", 2008
Percolator, wood, 10" x 11.25" x 1.25", 2008
Three Bottles, wood, 14.5" x 18.5" x 1.25", 2009
I enjoyed making these pieces a great deal. It was rewarding to use a limited palate and achieve such image quality with wood as my medium. I looked at these pieces for a few months, brought them with me as I moved back to my parents house, and watched them as I began to create some of the first pieces in the Broken Line series. During this time I recognized a weakness in the mosaics I made from life studies.
My medium is wood. Nearly all of it was architectural at one point or another. This being the case, there seemed to me something disingenuous about creating an image of some other thing like a bottle or a kettle using wood that had a history unrelated to these objects. It reminded me of a passage in Tobias Wolff's Old School. The author depicts Robert Frost visiting a boy's school to lecture on poetry. Frost's character says this: "Would you honor your own friend by putting words down anyhow, just as they come to you--with no thought for the sound they make, the meaning of their sound, the sound of their meaning?" The meaning of their sound and the sound of their meaning.
How do I account for the history of the wood I use? How do I account for the wood itself in a piece that depicts a glass bottle? Sure, the wood is there. It is visible as wood. You can see the paint on the wood. You can see the paint is old. There are holes where nails pierced the wood. But the mosaic itself is trying to be that which the medium is not. The meaning of its sound, the sound of its meaning.
Wood is architectural. It has structure. It is living. Bear witness to these things. Allow the wood to be itself first, then you have something to work with, something to cooperate with in a work of art. I hope to develop this sensitivity further with the BrokenLine series.
That fall I took a painting class at Montserrat College of Art. What I learned in class about color and line I employed in the workshop. I used wood that I had collected at my new job, sub-contracting for Ebersole Construction. The wood came from a number of different sites and it provided me with an adequate palate. These are examples of pieces I made that fall.
Other Bottle, wood, 8" x 9" x 1.25", 2008
Percolator, wood, 10" x 11.25" x 1.25", 2008
Three Bottles, wood, 14.5" x 18.5" x 1.25", 2009My medium is wood. Nearly all of it was architectural at one point or another. This being the case, there seemed to me something disingenuous about creating an image of some other thing like a bottle or a kettle using wood that had a history unrelated to these objects. It reminded me of a passage in Tobias Wolff's Old School. The author depicts Robert Frost visiting a boy's school to lecture on poetry. Frost's character says this: "Would you honor your own friend by putting words down anyhow, just as they come to you--with no thought for the sound they make, the meaning of their sound, the sound of their meaning?" The meaning of their sound and the sound of their meaning.
How do I account for the history of the wood I use? How do I account for the wood itself in a piece that depicts a glass bottle? Sure, the wood is there. It is visible as wood. You can see the paint on the wood. You can see the paint is old. There are holes where nails pierced the wood. But the mosaic itself is trying to be that which the medium is not. The meaning of its sound, the sound of its meaning.
Wood is architectural. It has structure. It is living. Bear witness to these things. Allow the wood to be itself first, then you have something to work with, something to cooperate with in a work of art. I hope to develop this sensitivity further with the BrokenLine series.
Matt- these are so fantastic. I love the bottles!
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