Drawings on Wood

Tethered: Bell South, Singer, Royal, and Sony
14" x 98" x 2" each
Graphite on wood panel

This series of artworks focuses on analog objects from the dustbin of communication technology. These mementos embody the desire to touch, share, and listen, but also serve as slow public service announcements that demonstrate a need for social distancing that conflicts with the need for social contact.  The rawness of the wood grain and formality of the frame design elevate the perception of value of these analog phones, typewriters, sewing machines, and cassette player by focusing attention on the connection between the sensual materiality of the objects, their design made for contact or communication, and the deferral of these intended destinies by the six feet that stretches them apart.  

As I draw on wood using graphite pencils, I build up layers of value. When I draw, I think about the specific type of tree and the stories of growth, history, and manufacturing that brought each time capsule of wood panel to my studio. I combine the wood grain patterns with drawings of disparate objects and remnants of past yearnings such as typewriters, telephones, and victrola horns - inventions that connected people spreading ideas, stories, and art.