Something about my work...

 

 

From the 1960's when I did my first watercolors of the robust grain silos standing in the forlorn prairies of Illinois to last year's visit to Spain where I sketched fragments of the amazing Great Mosque in Cordoba, drawing has been an ever-evolving passion and outlet. My training in architecture allowed me to not only develop in artistic ways but in the awareness of the innate interconnectedness of built and natural forms and places.

Etching, for me, became the natural transferential agent of the drawn line. It captures on a copper plate the fluidity and carpriciousness of line work. Through various mechanical processes tone and texture are introduced so that the line work is both enhanced and validated.

The print, achieved by way of pressure applied by the press, lifts the ink from the plate grooves and onto paper.

 

 

 


I find exhilarating the anticipation and discovery as the image reveals itself--often something quite unexpected but always holding promise.

Drawing, along with photography, is for me the chance to explore and manipulate the classic determinants of all of art: light, spatial form, and composition. Utilizing these "tools" I typically call up imagery either from my sketches or photos. A setting in a rural field just outside of Hanoi where a group of young boys has just formed serves as a launch pad. In another case, fragments, or shards, of historic settings in Provence, France lead to an interpretive vision.

I am particularly interested in the continued exploration of representing mood and feeling through multiple-plate print making that involves both subtlety and complexity.

 

                                                      "The essence of drawing is the line exploring space."   Andy Goldsworthy
©Jackson Fahnestock 2006. all rights reserved.