4.18.2012

submerged

These two are the newest of a series that's been incubating in my studio for sometime now. They explore symmetry, the impulse to find closure in the abstract and the push/pull of an image not quite on the surface. Constructed in layers, it begins as an inkblot overlaid with a tangleprint made with graphite and handspun cotton thread and mounted on wood and finally wrapped in mylar. The mylar softens the whole image particularly because it doesn't quite lay flat on the surface. Looking at the work feels a little like looking through a fog at a strange reflection.
Erin Curry. drawing. tangleblot (same but different two). ink, handspun thread graphite print and mylar on wood. 6"x6" ©2012
Erin Curry. tangleblot (same but different ). ink, handspun thread graphite print under mylar on wood. 6"x6" ©2012

Erin Curry. drawing. tangleblot (same but different two). ink, handspun thread graphite print and mylar on wood. 6"x6" ©2012
Erin Curry. tangleblot (same but different ). ink, handspun thread graphite print and mylar on wood. 6"x6" ©2012

These left the studio as gifts for twin girls yet to be born. It felt appropriate that a developing idea might be given to new life and echoed the little warm knot memory of my own mother who was a twin. She and her twin developed a little mythos between them that always held an element of the sacred to me.


A dozen more are in the works as I experiment with altering colors and the mark the ink and graphite leave. They feel visceral, alien and insect-like by turns. The word "Oracular" rolls around and around in my mind as I make these. A circuitous route of associations and desires left whirling in their wake. These pieces seem connected to reading tea leaves and taking Rorschach tests. Though many see inkblots and immediately think "Rorschach test," that test is actually not just any inkblot, but a set of ten specific images used again and again to analyze a psychological state. I'm most interested in our general compulsion to find the recognisable in the abstract rather than the specific analysis of a person, though they seem interconnected.


Meanwhile my silklings are nearly-almost-maybe ready to cocoon. 

4.02.2012

cloud collecting

My recent research has included an increasing number of cloud captures. Powerlines still make their appearance too, but mostly it's the clouds with wisps I'm captivated by.
Browsing in a dusty used bookstore serendipitously turned up a Cloud Atlas which teaches one how to identify cloud species. Apparently clouds, like plants and animals, have latin species, genus names, and even matrilineage.

One I found online reads like poetry:

"Fibrous, threadlike, white feather clouds of ice crystals, whose form resembles hair curls." (of cirrus)

"Heap cloud with flat basis in the middle or lower level, whose vertical development reminds of the form of towers, cauliflower or cotton." (of cumulus)

In another, the latin roots are broken down,
cumulus to "heap"
stratus to "layer"
cirrus to "curl of hair"
altum to "height, upper air"
nimbus to "rain"

the genera presented and linked to photographs,
and then (and then!) the species are described with all the respect and awe of a witness to the ephemeral




fibratus
uncinus
spissatus
castelanus
floccus
stratiformis
nebulosus
lenticularis
fractus
humilis
mediocris
congestus

possessing filaments
hooked
to make thick
castle
tuft of wool
layer appearance
nebulous
lentil
to fracture
near ground, small
medium
to heap up

cirrostratus fibratus
cirrus uncinus
cirrus spissatus
altocumulus castelanus
cirrus floccus
altocumulus stratiformis
stratus nebulosus
altocumulus lenticularis
cumulus fractus
cumulus humilis
cumulus mediocris
cumulus congestus










that not being enough, there's varieties to contend with,

intortus
vertebratus
undulatus
radiatus
lacunosus
duplicatus
translucidus
perlucidus
opacus

to twist
having vertebrae
having waves
being radiant
having holes
double
transparent
light pass through
shadowy, thick

and supplements and accessories,

incus
mamma
virga
praecipitatio
arcus
tuba
pileus
velum
pannus

anvil
udder
stick
a fall
bow, arch
trumpet
cap
sail of ship
piece of cloth, shred

Does it get any better than that?

From my own continually growing cloud collection:

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