a sense of place in time

No paintings to share-currently in transition mode-a necessary evil.

In the meantime, I've been working on the 'land mark' series and thought I'd post my findings as well as formal statement about the inspiration.

(FB post) the late afternoon light was beautiful and my coat pocket had been holding this duck wing far too long.... I was amazed at the structure of the wing (before I dismantled it)-perfectly engineered for flight, and warmth I suppose as there were tiny downy bits close to the break. these white feathers are from the under-wing.





 formal statement: land mark

A connecting aspect of my practice has been informed by altars and alter-ability in the land. After spending time at an international residency in 2011, I have become more and more interested in the human connection with a sense of place and how we are all compelled to alter the land in some way, shape or form, even in remote, sparsely populated regions of the world.

I am driven to leave my own land marks in these places and find myself making portals from discarded vineyard wire, arranging red sumac in  spirals on blue snow shadows and lining up rows of  milkweed pods into migration patterns.

Remnants found in fallow fields such as vine, carcass, nests, litter and wild flowers are altered to become symbolic human connections to a specific sense of place in time. They are left as temporary markers for others to encounter (or not) before being reclaimed by the natural world.

I am intrigued by the processes happening in nature over time and it’s unpredictability that affects the work. The uncertainty of working with the weather, the connection between land and light, uprooting and unearthing hidden things and hidden life are all elements that motivate my practice.



Building three dimensional work using only materials available from my immediate surroundings is something that continues to take shape.

 

see more works from this project

please do not use any of these images without permission from the artist

all rights reserved- copyright Jan Yates 2015

as I long to be

Now that I’m free to be myself, who am I?

Cant’ fly, can’t run, and see how slowly I walk.

Well, I think, I can read books.

               ‘What’s that you’re doing?’
the green-headed fly shouts as it buzzes past.

I close the book.

Well, I can write down words, like these, softly.

'What's that you're doing?' whispers the wind, pausing
in a heap just outside the window.

Give me a little time, I say back to its staring, silver face.
It doesn’t happen all of a sudden, you know.

'Doesn't it?' says the wind, and breaks open, releasing
distillation of blue iris.

And my heart panics not to be, as I long to be,
the empty, waiting, pure, speechless receptacle.

—Mary Oliver

 "Blue Iris," from What Do We Know: Poems and Prose Poems (Da Capo Press, 2002)

June,  oil/ cold wax on canvas, plein air, 12x18in

copyright Jan Yates,  2014, available

you are everywhere (sold)

'The Lilacs are out and I'm thinking of you'-recent email to my Daughter. Every spring she would make a point of picking some for me. I hold the memory close.

I love this passage from 'Lilacs' by Amy Lowell

' Lilacs in dooryards

Holding quiet conversations with an early moon;   

Lilacs watching a deserted house

Settling sideways into the grass of an old road;

Lilacs, wind-beaten, staggering under a lopsided shock of bloom

Above a cellar dug into a hill.

You are everywhere.'

May, Quiet Conversations,  oil / cold wax on canvas, 16x20in, copyright Jan Yates 2014

*On another note, I am happy to report that Saturday's open studio event was a perfect day! Thanks to new visitors and collectors, students, neighbours, friends and loyal patrons for stopping by. Your support means more than I can say.
The only downside - I was so busy in conversation, I forgot to take photos !