Narratives of Place

Pieces of Memory, cold wax, oil paints, collage, by Donna Watson

Words begin as description.  They are prismatic, vehicles of hidden, deeper shades of thought.  You can hold them up at different angles until the light bursts through in an unexpected color.

Susan Brind Morrow, THE NAME OF THINGS

Life Energy, cold wax, oil paints, collage by Donna Watson

We establish a sense of place from its vivid sensory impressions or influence.  Places have mood and magic, an atmosphere of their own.  There are different ways of conceptualizing and speaking about the way we connect to the spirit and texture of a place.  We find expression and authenticity of place through sensory cues, crystallized images, and from reasons steeped in memory and meaning.

In 1973, Peter Matthiessen traveled high into the remote mountains of Nepal to study the Himalayan blue sheep and possibly glimpse the rare and beautiful snow leopard.  Matthiessen was a student of Zen Buddhism and was also on a spiritual quest.  His beautiful writing describes the "moments' along his journey... the sky, the snow, the birds, the butterflies, the animals, the people.  I have never read such beautiful descriptive words, with such a deepening Buddhist understanding of reality, suffering, impermanence and beauty.  

"The fire-colored dragonflies in the early autumn air, the bent backs in bright reds and yellows, the gleam on the black cattle and grain stubble, the fresh green of the paddies and the sparkling river---over everything lies an immortal light, like transparent silver."  PM

Woodcut print by Gary Groves

Gary Groves is a woodcut artist.  He grew up in the Northwest and his work is inspired by the stark landscapes of rock, light and shadow.   He has a BFA in sculpture, apprenticed as a potter and lived in Japan.  It is obvious Zen tenets have influenced his work, and he has captured the rhythms and textures of the places he has experienced.  "I want my work to talk about this connection I have established  to try and draw attention to the significance and history of the objects I choose to include in my images."  Gary Groves

Woodcut print by Gary Groves

"I look for some aspect of my subjects, some special quality that arouses me, that I can point out and that may not be readably recognizable... that can make an ordinary object significant for myself and hopefully for the viewers."  Gary Groves

Palouse Falls, woodcut print by Gary Groves

"My medium of woodcut prints is idea for rendering the textures that help to convey my intentions.

The direct and straightforward technique of carving the blocks is something I respond to personally."
You can find out more about Gary Groves and his works at Augen Gallery here.  

Woodcut print by Gary Groves

Here the immensity, the emptiness, feeds the spirit, and leaves it with no hunger for anything but more space, more light---as if one had suddenly glimpsed the largeness, the emptiness of one's own soul, and come to terms with it, glorying at last in its open freedom.

David Malouf, An Imaginary Life

Wood cut print by Gary Groves