New Series: Dark Water, Dark Matter

Water is a primordial need for all life. Unfortunately, our resources of clean water are globally threatened by careless pollution and trans-national water monopolies. As world citizens, we need to be vigilant in safeguarding our water supplies.  As an artist, I am fascinated by water in movement, it's ripples and reflections.

Dark Water 3, incised Plexiglass and acrylic on plywood, 
28 x 21 x 3¼ in. 71 x 53 x 8 cm, 2015

Tide Pool 1, incised Plexiglass and acrylic on plywood, 
18 x 15½ x 3¾ in. 46 x 39 x 10 cm, 2015

Dark Water 1,  acrylic on incised plywood, 36 x 48 x 1 in. 91 x 122 x 2.5 cm, 2011

Dark Water 2, detail, incised Plexiglass and acrylic on plywood, 

30 x 19 x 3 in. 76 x 61 x 10 cm, 2015

Dark Water 2, incised Plexiglass and acrylic on plywood,
30 x 19 x 3 in. 76 x 61 x 10 cm, 2015

My painting Dark Water 1 of 2011 began with feelings and thoughts I had while hiking by the waterfall and gorge at Grand-Sault, New Brunswick. I happened to be there following an autumn hurricane while the gorge was racing with a huge volume of water.

© Barbara Safran de Niverville 2015

Since then, I have expanded my study of water to the crystal clear water at Aboîteau Beach.

© Barbara Safran de Niverville 2015

It's been several months since I've posted new work, but I have been busy working on Dark Water low relief projects.  In February, I had a car accident, that slowed me down considerably. Thankfully I was not seriously injured, although I am still overcoming some of its effects through physiotherapy and exercise.  

"Bouquet" at the Struts Gallery & Faucet Media Arts Center

BOUQUET at the Struts Gallery & Faucet Media Arts Center, May 05-17, 2014
Photo courtesy of Cynthia Naggar

Bouquet,  wall installation, mixed media, 140 cm  x 340 cm x 10 cm, 2013-14

May has been a very busy month for me! For the first two weeks, I was fortunate to install my Bouquet project in the Struts Gallery & Faucet Media Arts Center in Sackville, NB.  At the same time, I worked on new low relief thistle forms to add to the large format drawings and I finished my Bouquet for Butterflies mixed media drawing.  My studio is too small for me to see the work in this context, so I appreciate the large white walls and open space of the gallery that much more.  (The yellowish cast to the photograph above seems to be due to the temperature of the spotlight bulbs.  I will have some better photos soon.)

Garden panels, acrylic and paper on panels and plywood,  25  x 20  x 4 cm to 58 x 36 x 10cm, 2013

Potential, based on lupine pods, adds interest to the line up of 10 x 8 in. panels. The set seems more successful than single pieces exhibited individually. 

Thistle Forms, plywood, 2014

I discovered that my new low reliefs based on thistle drawings were successful as a new wall sculpture.  I am planning to make more pieces to fill the wall and extend across the floor towards the viewer.  I have been cutting the forms on a scroll saw and assembling them with doweling. No two forms are the same.  It's fairly labor intensive, but the result is worth the effort.

Thistle Forms, wall installation, plywood, 2014

Thistle Forms will spread across the wall and floor and possibly acquire a better title in the process!

Bouquet for Butterflies, mixed media on paper,140 x 91 cm, 2014

 One viewer commented that you have to really look at this work to find the butterflies. I have noticed that viewers become engaged with this series and offer interesting reflections on it. I was glad to spend so much time in the gallery where I interacted with many visitors.

Installation at the Struts & Faucet, photo courtesy of Cynthia Naggar

My large format drawings install onto thin wooden brackets with "Velcro" fasteners.  The system works well, but the brackets have to follow the irregular placement of burned holes in the drawings. This means that each drawing has to be measured separately in order to coordinate its brackets and to keep them invisible once the work is on the wall.  Installation took me longer than I had anticipated.  It's something to keep in mind for the next time.  Another consideration is the fragility of the paper's surface.  

If this work were exhibited in a museum or a busy gallery, I would cover it with large sheets of thin Plexiglass, screwed to the wall.  I'm not really up for framing at this point.  It's expensive and difficult to transport.  The drawings roll up and fit inside a large tube.  I pack the low reliefs in bubble wrap in two suitcases.  The "Garden" panels also fit in one of the suitcases.

Once it was all taken down and I finished filling in holes in the wall and touching up paint, I went back to working on my submissions again!

Fireweed Drawing 1

Fireweed 1, detail, mixed media on paper, 55½ x 36 inches  2014

Fireweed 1, detail, mixed media on paper, 55½ x 36 inches  2014

The fireweed, like the thistle, provides an interesting metaphor for the degradation of the environment. This plant prefers transformed and burnt habitats.  It declines as a forest ecosystem recovers its health. Fireweed seeds remain viable in the ground for many years, waiting for an opportunity when the ground has been opened up to light. The fireweed rapidly colonizes disturbed sites and is considered by some too aggressive to grow as an ornamental plant.

Fireweed 1, mixed media on paper, 55½ x 36 inches  2014

First Lessons in Botany and 18 hours of drawing

This is a page from Asa Gray's botany textbook published in 1857, First Lessons in Botany and Vegetable Physiology, illustrated by over 360 wood engravings from original drawings by Isaac Sprague. I found this dried flower pressed between the pages. Could it be as old as the book?  This sample was pressed between the pages devoted to the snapdragon family. It seems to be a variety of the wildflower beardstongue.  

This book belonged to the Mt. Allison Ladies College Library, 1854-1958 and was sitting in the stacks of the Mount Allison University library when I found it. I had read about Asa Gray in Barbara Novak's book, Nature and Culture: American Landscape and Painting 1825-75.  He is considered by many to be the most important American botanist of the nineteenth century.

The illustrations in First Lessons have helped me interpret my somewhat fuzzy photographs of fireweed in Banff National Park. When I took the pictures, I was hiking with a group that was moving quickly. I had no idea at the time that I would be using the photos several years later as a reference for a large-scale drawing.

Below is a very dark photo of my initial drawing in graphite on 55½ x 36 inch watercolor paper. The drawing is done with an HB pencil on bright white paper.  This stage of the work has taken me about 18 hours of free-hand drawing.  Scroll down for a detailed photo.  I will try re-setting the white balance in my camera and perhaps I will have a better result with the next photograph.

55½ 36 inches, graphite on watercolor paper, in progress

Detail of the above work