JLL Office Commission

I recently completed a commission for the JLL office in Buckhead. The piece is part of a large canvas wall with 18 different works representing neighborhoods throughout the city. Reynoldstown was the neighborhood given to me and I created a piece using natural pigments that speak to its history as one of the first African-American neighborhoods in Atlanta and central location along the rail lines.

Reynoldstown Mural

Isaiah P. Reynolds store on Wylie. The Sidewalk along the train yard 

My painting practice often sources materials found from the earth to create my own oil paint; a grounding process that helps me reconnect with the landscape. In order to make paint, I find rocks that I break down into small particles and mix the pigments into oil (read more about the process here). The materials I used for this piece consisted of Georgia clay, brick particles gathered along Atlanta’s railroads and dirt directly from Lang-Carson Park. 

The initial sketch

As part of the commission process, I sent a proposed sketch, for which I used clay, ash and brick that I gathered from Atlanta in 2020. The painting started as an abstract interpretation of the feeling I get when I drive back home and through the Reynoldstown neighborhood. As I began painting, I kept seeing a clearing of trees in a forest and a low setting sun (or moon). My ultimate goal was to capture a spirit of rebirth that I feel the area exudes and tie that spirit with my own nostalgic memories of Atlanta and the south. 

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Interested in a natural pigment piece of your own? Learn more about the commission process at the link below!

Embodied Forest Online Book and Pre-Order

I am thrilled to be a part of ecoartspace's "Embodied Forest" online exhibition and book. This beautiful compilation of 90 artists from around the world reflects on our coexistence with mother nature. A number of art artists included are deep inspirations for me and I'm honored to have my work amongst their's (check out my work on page 84 ☺︎).

One hundred and ninety-one ecoartspace members applied to the call for artists, and ninety were selected by guest juror Lilian Fraiji, curator of LABVERDE based in Manaus, Brazil. Countries represented by seventeen of the Embodied Forest artists outside the United States include Brazil, England, Sweden, Australia, Belgium, and Germany. The range of topics addressed is vast, including insects, breath, wildfires, birds, fungi, logging, growth rings, transpiration, mycorrhizal networks, canopy shyness, the cellular tissue of trees, forest immersion, reciprocity, trees as memories, rights of nature, trees as witnesses of history, colonial and capitalist extraction/ white supremacy, the sonification of trees, symbiotic relationships, trees as bioindicators, tree as medicines, conservation and restoration, beetle infestations, migrations of tree habitat, Indigenous knowledge, and cultural burns.

Support the Cause

I also have a piece in the ecoartspace Fundraiser Gallery. A portion of the sale will go towards the cost of printing the "Embodied Forest" book to ensure that it is 100% "green" and sustainable.

Automatic 7, 2021, 22” x 30” - Available through ecoartspace

Indigo Commissions - Breaking Down the Process

At the start of August, I was commissioned to create an indigo piece for a new yoga studio in Colorado. The piece is going to be scanned and printed at a mural-sized scale and while I am excited about the project and final outcome, I was most excited about having a reason to create indigo pieces again.

I took a blue hiatus for a year, but the process continues to calm and ground me even when things feel chaotic. I felt inspired to share how a piece is created from start to finish and break down these mysterious worlds. If you are interested in an indigo piece, you can browse my available work at the link here or request a custom commission using my commission form. I hope you enjoy!

Fera Space V from 2016

Fera Space XXXVI from 2020

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Starting the vat

An indigo painting begins with creating the indigo vat. That process has such a distinct feeling for me - I can smell it, feel it and even reflecting on it calms me. Indigo isn’t always the neatest process and for me that means braving the heat and humidity to paint outside. Literally blood, sweat and sometimes tears go into the work.

As I stir the indigo vat, I feel myself deepen into a blue trance. The sound of the water and the overall feeling is so grounding that I often take it for granted once I have stepped away. After the vat has been made, I let it sit for at least two hours. During this time, I prepare paper for dipping by tearing down various sizes that I hope will work together. This part is less calming for me - I’ve never been a precise artist and straight lines often make me nervous.

I bring the sheets outside and check on the vat. If the coloring is slightly green/yellow with an indigo “flower” at the top, the vat is considered done. Making a good vat of indigo reminds me of making an omelette - when you nail it, it's beautiful, but you can still eat an imperfect omelette. If the indigo vat is less than perfect, it still makes a beautiful color. Several external factors also affect the coloring: the temperature outside, the initial temperature of the water or the quality of the air (I’ve had several studio spaces with questionable air quality...and it showed in the dye).

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Dipping the paper

That initial paper dip is the most exciting and always grabs the most pigment specs. I approach my paper dyes differently than I would a garment, because I embrace the pigment chunks and try to capture the vat’s irregularities. From there, the process is a dance. I swirl the paper through the blue waters and capture the flecks; each movement shows a new ripple or blue mark. If I flow through it slowly, the piece has large billowing waves. If I make jagged movements in the vat, that creates more agitated marks. I lay each flat to dry and will often do another pass now that the vat has lost some of its pigment. The effect creates layers and nuances within the piece that I think is important to giving it an overall depth.

After the pieces dry (or sometimes even while they are drying), I start to see connections and arrange them around me. This is always a back and forth, as one piece can often not exist if the other exists. For a commission, I send multiple combinations to choose from before deciding on the final. I also decide if I want to make another indigo vat to add more saturation and dip the sheets again. In each combination, I’m looking for elements that connect one work to another visually - that carry it through almost like a comma in a sentence. I ultimately want the piece to stand as an abstract form that feels vaguely familiar. I don’t look for a literal interpretation, nor do I want people to have the same interpretation, but for me personally, I see a deep connection to my subconscious and the places I visit deep in meditation.

Unused indigo combination

Another unused indigo combination

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Stitching it all together

Once a verdict has been reached, I begin to stitch the piece together. Depending on the client’s preference (or my own) this is either done with gold embroidery thread or white book binding thread. Both materials are symbolic to me of mending the cracks to create a more beautiful whole, but the gold thread directly references the Japanese art of kintsugi and celebrates those mends as part of the piece’s history.

After everything has been sewn up, the piece is either shipped out to its new home or put to the side for another dive into a new vat of blue and the cycle continues.

All stitched up!

Detail image 1

Detail image 2

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Reflecting on the work

This series started as a way for me to cope with my grandmother’s decline from Alzheimer’s disease. Jerry was a character in the best way - she had so many stories to share and an overwhelmingly giving spirit. I learned so much from her, including a respect for art, and she was truly the matriarch of our family. In 2014, she had a stroke which eventually led to the onset of Alzheimer’s.

The disease has a gut wrenching way of building upon itself and while I was watching my grandmother fade away, her spark kept shining through in the form of song. She often sang “Off we go into the wild blue yonder” with so much heart and I felt a calling to capture that yonder through art in hopes of creating a beautiful place for her to go. The work has grown since that time, but I always find myself going back to its roots and a statement I wrote in 2017:

I find that the most intimidating experience is how people become so prominent in your life – a fixture – but also how quickly they can leave; be that with death, a relationship ending, even a new job, everything comes and goes fluidly like waves.

We are controlled like the tide, the moon pushing us back and forth out to sea.

That is where the people I have loved go.

They are out at sea.

Floating away, only for a certain tide

to bring them back.

New Moon - Lion’s Gate, 2021, Indigo and flashe paint on paper, 11” x 15” (sold)

Fall Drawing Workshops at Metro Parks Art Center in Nashville!

After a successful summer course, I’m excited to now be offering two teen drawing workshops in the fall through Metro Parks Art Center in Downtown Nashville! The classes begin on August 23rd and will be offered on Mondays and Wednesdays. Learn more about each course below!

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Intermediate Drawing for Teens

Join me on Wednesday evenings from 5:30 – 7:30 PM for a six week intermediate drawing workshop! Students will learn more advanced drawing techniques using graphite, charcoal and other materials with an emphasis placed on creative experimentation and cultivating a thoughtful drawing series.

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Beginner Drawing for Teens

Join me on Monday afternoons from 3:30 – 5:30 PM* for a six week workshop on the fundamentals of drawing. We'll be learning the basics of drawing from life and reference photos using charcoal and graphite. Students of all levels are encouraged!

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Are you in the Nashville-area and want to participate?

Contact Darreth Walker at darreth.walker@nashville.gov for more information.

Upcoming Exhibit and Book: Embodied Forest

I’m excited to share that I was selected for ecoartspace’s new book and online exhibition, Embodied Forest. The exhibition features 90 artists selected by Lilian Fraiji, a curator and producer based in the Amazon, Brazil and is the co-founder of LABVERDE program, a project dedicated to developing multidisciplinary content involving art, science and nature.

"Artistic, linguistic constructions concerning the Forest follow a methodology that blends experience in the land, scientific and ancestral knowledge, and the artistic potential of arousing new discourses. Some works are remarkably engaged in denouncing the extinction of life, while others emphasize the artists' sensorial perception and affective processes. Some depict the dynamics of organisms in their complexity. There is a concern for giving new meaning to the landscape while dissolving the subject's place, and there is also the desire to give visibility to invisible natural phenomena."  - excerpt from Lilian Fraiji's essay for the Embodied Forest book

“Night-Time Walker”, One of the selected pieces for Embodied Forests

 I am a true fan of many of the participating artists and know the final result will be a powerful collection of work that reflects on the importance of the natural world.

An online exhibition will launch in September 2021 and the book will be available to the public in November. The book truly embodies its ecological focus and will be printed on FSC certified (Forest For All Forever) papers and printers. There will also be a section in the book with essays by several artists who ecoartspace has worked with on tree projects dating back 20 years including Susan Leibovitz Steinman, Tim Collins and Reiko Goto, Aviva Rahmani, Ruth Wallen, Kim Abeles and Sant Khalsa. Estimated size of the book will be approximately 300-pages total.

I look forward to keeping everyone updated on the show’s progress and sharing the final result!