Drawn to the Wall V Exhibit, “Two Phobias”
-photo by Christian Woods
To a phobic, the depth of fear is wholly out of proportion to the actual threat. Fear of the moon—why is madness called lunacy? Musophobia—even the thought of mice or rats can induce states ranging from panic to paralysis. Two Phobias explores out-sized fear in an over-sized medium.
On the work itself, the isolation of space has been enhanced by hand-rubbing charcoal into the chalkboard paint background. Features of the moon are charcoal over white gesso. The mice are drawn hair-by-hair with a silverpoint stylus, a technique I learned at a British Museum workshop in Elizabethan art materials; the images will change over time as the silver reacts to its environment.
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Here are some photos, taken in August, as I worked on my wall drawing:
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- Day #3, making the moon
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- Day #4
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- Day #6
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- Loo and Moo discuss drawing processes
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- Day #8, life-size silverpoint mice
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- Kurt Madison adds a patina to the silverpoint
Black Thumb Tales 
Incredible work Elaine. Awesome.
David
Glad you like it Dave!
Reblogged this on Sticks, Stones, and Paper Stew Blog and commented:
Oh, the amazing Elaine! Her work is just incredible!
Thanks Gale…I liked the challenge of new materials and the large format.
The large scale is impressive! I just received a new box of charcoal and really want to pull it out and play, but now is not the time for that. Keep us posted on your further works!!!
Hi Elaine. Dramatic and expansive feeling. Same for the photo by Christian Woods. Is this a collaboration? I see that one of the photos was Kurt Madison adding a patina?
Hi Carolee,
Christian is one of the best- a clever and inventive photographer!
There were no collaborations in the Drawn to the Wall exhibit, but there was a collegial feeling as the five of us worked together in the gallery on our individual walls. We were all in our own worlds, connected to our devices…earbuds and tunes or podcasts, but the irrepressible Kurt Madison could be counted on to come over and share an idea or new material (homemade pastel, unusual vine charcoal, patina compound). Kurt works with metals and we agreed that it was worth a try to see what would happen to the silverpoint if we fumed it. I love these interactions- one of my favorite parts of a shared studio space.
I love silverpoint, it’s fabulous
Love it! Nice work. G
Thank you!
I just saw this at Jundt yesterday. So glad I got to, it’s amazing!
Thank you Clarence!
Tomorrow is the last opportunity to view the walls. We paint over the work on Monday.