Trees

“I use the desert around me to inspire my works in fabric. The endless variation of color and form lends itself to abstraction in fiber. With this collection, I have branched out in new directions. I have used hand-dyeing, embroidery, applique; all of which have been used sparingly, if at all, in my previous work. I have used new materials including wool, tie-dyed velvet and linen, embroidery floss, and beads, the better to reveal that hidden beauty inside those dark twisted trees.”

SLICES OF SONORA is the third exhibition of the 2019-2020 Entry Gallery Project Space on view now in the Entry Gallery and online, https://tohonochul.org/galleries/entry-gallery/

To learn more about Janet and her work, visit http://www.janetwindsor.com/

living in harmony with others because of their ability to camouflage. In addition to insects and birds, I have also witnessed a snake. Quite honestly, watching a snake winding itself around a tree branch and swinging limb to limb is one of the most unnerving experiences I have ever had.

When I read the prospectus for Sonoran Stories, I thought about mythology and folklore; how different cultures have explained a natural occurrence with a story.  Inspired by my actual experience, I thought a whole tree made of snakes could explain the sensation of “bites” that occur when walking under many of the thorny tree species that survive in the desert.  It seems every living thing in the desert is designed with its own attributes that help them to survive – being able to hide is just one of them.

I am intrigued by the relationships of creatures in the natural world.  I like to compare and explore them with those of the human nature.”

“I have been working with fibers for over 35 years! Of all the processes I have tried, my favorite is to combine linocut printmaking with fabrics. In the past, I have used commercially produced fabrics and stamped text to create “quilt” like results. Most recently, I have enjoyed stitching and the dimension it creates.”

“Painting – and my favorite thing about it – allows creating my own light and forms. Painting allows expression limited only by my own skills and imagination. Painting is physical like dancing. Painting allows sloppy and drippy and finger prints. Painting is analogue, and painting can be colorful far beyond the natural.

I try not to overthink what is happening when I start a painting. I simply allow texture and random shapes and colors to take form with brushes or knives. This is the chaos stage. Making a story out of the chaos comes next.

Sometimes addressing the chaos results in pure form/color abstractions, sometimes quasi-figurative and sometimes allegory. At other times when traces of the old left-brain photo-formality rises to the surface the painting morphs into distinct geometric forms with no purpose but to be colorful with coherent orderliness.

I live in Tucson, Arizona, and certainly my colors and compositions are informed by the natural palette of the Sonoran Desert. My painting is no doubt further influenced by the funky pre-statehood historic neighborhood that I live in. Tucson is a very eclectic and groovy place with lots of one-of-a-kind creative people that have befriended me, inspire me, and help in my attempts to deserve the moniker “artist”. I owe my friends so much; they know who they are and I thank them.”

To learn more about Jack and his work, visit http://jackmclain.com/

When I see a still life arrangement or an outdoor scene that captures my attention I will make several sketches of it from observation, emphasizing spatial relationships, passages and colors that I find interesting or unexpected. When starting a painting I put these sketches away and work from memory and attempt to capture the beauty and essence of these engaging places and things.”

To learn more about Erinn Kennedy and her work, visit http://www.erinnkennedy.com/index.html

the many. As a kid the tree had many uses: climbing, hiding, tree houses, fences, and fire wood. Trees would catapult us into the world of adventure and were always available to help tell our story. The Ponderosa pine was the most majestic and exciting, climbing one of these great trees was like a portal to another place, another dimension and going up and up as high as you dare, you could escape from the world for a time… observe and watch without being seen…..the sap would give out its sticky scent in the summer, and in the fall when the snows came and throughout the winter these trees would burden the load. The Spruce was most significant at Christmas, as we often would find our way to a ranch and cut our tree for the season, gather pine boughs for wreaths and garlands. Now, as I have gotten older the tree has become an elemental object of design, among the many observations I love about a tree is looking up through the branches and finding patches of blue sky, like a Monet painting……..also the way branches tapper off into thin air……and so the tree will always be a source of fascination.  ‘when I see birches bend to the left and right across the lines of straighter darker trees, I like to think some boy’s been swinging them’ from BIRCHES by Robert Frost.”

gnarled root system that was exposed at the base of the tree. I’d wet and pack soil between the roots, sometimes embedding rocks, marbles, shells, or anything interesting that I could find lying around. My earliest creative impulses were nurtured here, below the sheltering canopy of this giant oak – and it was here that a lifelong obsession with trees was formed.

I have always been fascinated by the idea that there exists, underground, a mirror image of any tree seen on the landscape. I’ve imagined vast, subterranean forests, invisible to us and yet, no doubt, equally beautiful. Trees are, for me, powerful symbols of the beauty and mystery of nature – what is seen, what is hidden, what is known, what is unknowable.”

my right forearm, it became a personal missive of hope.  Finding a dead tree in the Rillito River wash alongside some beautiful dried mud, I ‘grafted’ a branch from a different tree onto it, green leaves began to “sprout” from the foreign branch.  This ‘new growth’ grew while roots were exposed above the dry earth. The tree flourished with an internal strength despite the conditions.  At some point, a boat of dreamlike illumination took up residence within the branches, a vessel of light to be used as transport whenever needed.”

to learn more about Catherine Nash go to: http://catherinenash.com/

outer bark and pulp layers have decayed away. My sculpture is a means of recovering the inner spirit of the tree, bringing it to life again, and revealing its extant artistic form and meaning. I harvest the nearly fossilized inner heartwood, so my work begins with the formal beauty of the tree’s inner core. I use hand and power tools, resin suspensions with mica, pigment and holographic powders, metal leaf and various enamel paints to develop multiple layers of reflective patina that is my means of preserving the life within the tree. The tree’s spiritual light scintillates anew in a resurrected life that is entirely different from the tree’s original physiological existence.”

long lasting, yet temporary and transformative. They become rotting material that nurtures the new seed, for generations.

We begin with this same kind of resilience. A child falls with the sole purpose, of rising again. I make little flying dresses out of lace, thorns and tree roots, to celebrate our union with the earth, our small beginnings that come from a rich ancient past. Like trees, we weather many storms and become warriors, knights in armor standing tall, sharp-edged exteriors with soft interiors. Although these dresses are floating, they have roots, grounding down, even in times of uncertainty, when hovering over unstable ground. I no longer deny the thorns as a part of who I am. Yet underneath, lies a tender place.”

to learn more about Kate Long Hodges go to: https://thelandwithnoname.org/

typical Tree of Life design: a central corn stalk grows out of a Navajo wedding basket surrounded by birds in flight.

The Tree of Life motif ties to the Navajo Creation myth. The wedding basket symbolizes the center of all things. The black design on the basket represents sacred mountains. The corn stalk represents the reed which the Earth Surface People used to climb through worlds to finally emerge into our present world, known to the Navajo as the fifth world. The corn stalk can also be seen as a metaphor for where the Navajo came from and where they are going. Corn is extremely important to Navajo culture. Not only is it a source of nourishment, but it is also used in blessings and rituals. The Navajo people believe they originated from corn—men from white corn and women from yellow corn.

Not much is known about Fannie Nockidineh except that she was only 16-years-old when she completed this piece.

This textile is part of the Lu Lovell Collection which was generously donated to Tohono Chul by the Lura M. Lovell Trust in 2014.

death, I have taken my sister’s baby rocking chair to many places in the United States and Mexico. Regardless of the fact that the living Pamela Jenks would have been resistant to travel so far afield, the spirit of my sister now appears to enjoy these trips. At least, that’s what I think.”

to learn more about Stu Jenks and his Pamela’s Baby Rocking Chair series and book go to: https://stujenks.typepad.com/

ubiquitous, full of both life and shadow, filling the air with their rustling and scents, coloring the gray Winter, and signaling both Spring and Fall. The tree pieces bear symbols of life and death, of life cycles, from the ancient to the budding and new. The Pepper Tree piece has the table laid for a banquet, with glasses swimming with polywogs, and plates of floripondio.”

on the tree, this canopy still exists. In spring, when the flowers begin to bloom and new leaves begin to appear, under this shade canopy becomes a magical place.”

to learn more about Trish Hastings Sargent go to: http://www.ths-studio.com/

and beauty. Their simple, abstract spiral configuration sets off the organic complexity of the sticks at the same time that it unifies them and gives them a clear focus.  Because these sticks are not fastened in place, each time we show this piece it must be set up anew. It will always be fresh, fragile and immediately present, a visual feast of texture and pattern to please the senses and engage the mind.”

to learn more about ROGER ASAY and REBECCA DAVIS o to: http://asaydavisstudios.com/