Wilderness 50: The Retreat

In June I hiked into the Boulder Creek Wilderness with three of the artists who will be showing with me in the Wilderness 50 show. We were focused on the burned over forest and examining the regeneration that has occurred since the wildfires of 1996 and 2008. We found much to be glad about. Among the standing charred trees were many many young trees. Native wildflowers were varied and abundant, and the extravantly white and lavender blooming ceanothus were a shoulder high cloud  in the black stemmed understory. The forest was very much alive and thriving.

 

The Cambium Layer

cambium

   

 
cam·bi·um

a layer of delicate meristematic tissue between the inner bark or phloem and the wood or xylem, which produces new phloem on the outside and new xylem on the inside in stems, roots, etc., originating all secondary growth in plants and forming the annual rings of wood.

The vascular cambium  forms tissues that carry water and nutrients throughout the plant. On its outer surface, the vascular cambium forms new layers of phloem, and on its inner surface, new layers of xylem. The growth of these new tissues causes the diameter of the stem to increase. 

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I am working on paintings for the upcoming Legacy of A Promise show responding to the 50th anniversary of the Wilderness Act, and I find myself exploring trees. I feel such different energy than when I work with birds. I feel the bottoms of my feet firmly anchored, attached to roots that descend into the deep substructure of the earth. Time is slow and sustained, as if I am reaching back through hundreds, even thousands of years. I feel weight, stubborn power and impenetrable wildness.

Trees are time travelers and witnesses. With their stems that grow and remain through dormancy, they pierce into the future from the past. They house and support multitudes of organisms, including humans. As they grow, simultaneously from without and within, they clean the atmosphere and utilize the complex detritus left behind in the forest. The ancient trees, especially those found in the primary forests, are an enormous mystery. Yet when I am with them I feel safe, as if I am on hallowed ground..

 

ArtWorks NW 2014

I had a great time last night at the opening of the annual ArtWorks NW juried exhibition put on by the Umpqua Valley Arts Associatiion. It is a strong show of work by contemporary Pacific Northwest artists juried by Ryan Pierce, recipient of the Individual Artist Fellowship from the Oregon Arts Commission.. Sandee McGee, gallery director, designed the show with a sophisticated eye. Cash awards were given and I was honored to receive the Hundred Valleys Honorable Mention award for my piece She Waits.

She Waits: Part II

Continuing from my post on 12/29, now with the finished painting:
I enjoyed working with a winter palette of dormancy. With the subtlety of color, the piece became more and more about line and mark making. This beautiful female Great Horned Owl is both trapped and sheltered by the thick tangle, peacefully guarding her eggs.

Umpqua Community College Permanent Art Collection

I'm delighted and honored to announce that my painting, Four And Twenty Blackbirds was chosen for Umpqua Community College's recent art purchase. According to Susan Rochester, Director of the Umpqua Community College Art Collection, the project goal was to add to the permanent art
collection through the acquisition of contemporary and modern art that recognizes the
artistic talent of artists in the Pacific Northwest. Approximately $45,000 was available to purchase existing artwork in two sections: $25,000  to purchase existing works created by
artists living in southwestern Oregon (Douglas, Coos, Curry, Jackson, Josephine,
Klamath, and Lake Counties), and $20,000  to purchase existing works by artists within the greater Pacific Northwest, outside southwestern Oregon.

 

The Art Purchase Task Force reviewed over 1,100 artworks submitted by 115 artists with active studio practices in Oregon, Washington, and Idaho. From that body, the following artists' works were selected for inclusion in UCC's Permanent Art Collection:

Holly Andres, Portland, Oregon

Rich Bergeman, Corvallis, Oregon

Clint Brown, Corvallis, Oregon

Kathleen Caprario, Springfield, Oregon

Renee Couture, Glide, Oregon

Tallmadge Doyle, Eugene, Oregon

Sarah Fagan, Portland, Oregon

Sally Finch, Portland, Oregon

James Florschutz, Portland, Oregon

Margaret Godfrey, Blue River, Oregon

Yuji Hiratsuka, Corvallis, Oregon

Jenny Kroik, Eugene, Oregon

Jon Leach, Winston, Oregon

Ann Lindsay, Winchester, Oregon

Barbara Benedetti Newton, Renton, Washington

Ryan Pierce, Portland, Oregon

Daniel Robinson, Fossil, Oregon

Paul Xavier Rutz, Portland, Oregon

Nancy Watterson Scharf, Oakland, Oregon

Pat Snyder, Coos Bay, Oregon

Gena Lee Tharp, Roseburg, Oregon

Paul Zegers, Roseburg, Oregon

The artwork will be placed in College buildings for the benefit and enjoyment of the general public.The works were unveiled at an opening reception Thursday, February 13. It was an interesting and impressive grouping of  works with many styles and approaches.  In spite of the variety it was fascinating to see a common thread that runs through the entire collection. What emerged from the artists was a powerful collective response to living in the contemporary Pacific Northwest landscape.

The Legacy Of A Promise: 50th Anniversary of the Wilderness Act

I have been invited to show at the Douglas County Museum of History and Natural History in September/October 2014.  The show will be called The Legacy Of A Promise: 50th Anniversary of the Wilderness Act. Volunteers from several different organizations, such as the Umpqua Watersheds and the Umpqua National Forest are collaborating to bring together the show. Preparation for the exhibit will include conversations among the artists on the conceptual aspects of Wilderness in our culture.
I am excited to participate in this project. Over the past few years I have become more and more concerned with visually exploring our place in nature and the way we coexist. I feel some urgency about these questions. I try to give a voice to nature within the human context.


Having  wild places protected and set aside is essential to me. Wilderness has an intangible but profound effect on my spiritual, emotional and physical well-being. Just knowing that there are places left relatively untouched by human development gives me peace of mind. It makes me feel that we haven't gone too far astray as custodians of the planet; that there are banks of biodiversity to draw from and intact ecosystems to teach us. Human hubris continues to astonish me. In a small way the wild places protect ourselves from ourselves.


Since I was a child, I have spent a lot of time exploring and camping in various wildernesses. My parents shared their love of nature with me and taught me to hike and enjoy the wonder of it all. Spending time in the wilderness makes me feel small, and puts me back into perspective and balance with creation.  It is like going to church.

She Waits

I am working with an image of a great horned owl. High in her camouflaged aerie, wintry and waiting as she sits upon her eggs. I have observed her many times over the years at the old abandoned homestead in the Summer Lake Preserve. She patiently withstands the occasional birders and ATVs in order to raise her chicks in that food rich place. She is silent and powerful, a shadow of the night, perfectly colored to hide in the huge old winter-bare cottonwood tree that remains by the barn. Once I saw her fledged chicks perched in a row high on the top ridge of the barn, their fluffy feathers making them appear enormous. How they got there is a mystery to me. But then that is the thing about owls, the mystery.