Natural details and discoveries

My work is about collecting and a life-long passion for object found in the natural world, my source of wonder, sanctuary and personal rhythm.  My subjects–birds, wildflowers, trees and insects–are set within strata of surface design.  They have become personal icons, representing themes of vulnerability, transformation and survival.

Most artists I know are avid collectors and the tokens and objects that line their studio shelves represent the shapes, colors, textures, patterns and subjects which inevitably turn up in their art.  I am a passionate gatherer of stones, shells, abandoned nests, pods, feathers and bits of wood.  For living things there are photographs and drawings, ways in which I can hold onto the birds or wildflowers that amaze me.  These collections are the basis of my vocabulary. 

The canvases and fiber collages here embrace a dialogue between representation and the mixed media surface. Each panel features patterns from stencils, ephemera, hand printed surfaces, and antique engravings.  Over these fragmented fields I paint images in acrylic, embellishing and creating details with transfers, bits of collage, found objects, and/or stitching. My process is one of adding and subtracting forms, lines  and areas of color and transparencies to produce layered histories.  These reflect manifold encounters with the natural world  with variations between activity and momentary pause.

Addressing times when people had closer everyday ties to the cadences of nature, I use many vintage items in my work.  Ephemera, old handwriting found in letters and diaries, household textiles, fragments of aged lace and engravings from old botany and zoology books interest me most.  They appeal to my need to rediscover and connect to the kind of thinking and care that created them.  As I incorporate them into my work, I often alter the filter of their exact context, yet I invite the character of these materials to remain.  I try to find connections between antique ornament, weathered surfaces, and cycles of organic regeneration.

My focus on natural details reflects the thrill of unexpected discovery, encounters with wildlife, observations of growth, movement, and found pattern.  Fragments are taken out of their original context to provide new meanings and metaphors.  Invented script and other marks are used to communicate the mystery and spiritualism I find in this immeasurable world. 

Sharon McCartney