This narrative explores Lines by virtue of their many qualities and the assumptions that are made based on those qualities.
“ModernLines”
The implication of the perception of modernity by the assertion of straight lines, particularly on the natural environment. There is “a powerful impulse in modern thought to equate the march of progress, whether of culture or civilization, with the increasing domination of an unruly—and therefore non-linear—nature,” (Tim Ingold, Lines, 159).
“JumbleofRandom Curves”
The implication of the wildness and untamability of nature with the idea that “nature abhors a straight line,” (William Kent). “Visible wild Nature is a jumble of random curves; it contains no straight lines and few regular geometrical shapes of any kind. But the tamed, man-made world of Culture is full of straight lines, rectangles, triangles, circles and so on. (Edmund Leach, Culture and Communication: The Logic by which Symbols are Connected, 51).
“LiminalLines”
A challenge to the aforementioned assumptions and implications, as in fact “the world of nature is teeming with regular lines and shapes of all sorts…” and “of all the lines made by human inhabitants as they go about their lives probably only a minority are at all regular. The hegemony of the straight line is a phenomenon of modernity, not of culture in general,” (Tim Ingold, Lines, 159).
ModernLines
“Corncob Order” Screen prints
Below is a triptych of screen prints playing off the short-lived “Corncob Order” of columns designed for the US Capitol building.
The first is the monumental column superimposed over an abstraction of a never-ending field of corn. The perfectly straight rows of corn extend to the horizon—American ideal agricultural assertion over the landscape.
The second in the series shows the column again, this time in a compromised position. A further level of assertion over the landscape is represented with the pivot irrigation fields allowing growth where otherwise it would be impossible.
The final screenprint of the series shows the ultimate fate: a diminutive column partially buried by a mountain of harvested corn with grain bin silos extending infinitely into the distance.
Highway Land Project
The goal of this design project was to design a walk along or within a “line” (Highway 20 in Iowa) that alters the occupant’s relationship to and perception of ground.
“[T]he very places where the wayfarer pauses for rest are, for the transported passenger, sites of activity. But this activity, confined within a place, is all concentrated on one spot. In between sites he barely skims the surface of the world, if not skipping it entirely, leaving no trace of having passed by or even any recollection of the journey. Indeed the tourist may be advised to expunge from memory the experience of getting there, however arduous or eventful it may have been, lest it should bias or detract from the appreciation of what he as come to see. In effect, the practice of transport converts every trail into the equivalent of a dotted line.”
Tim Ingold, Lines 2016, 81
JumbleofRandomCurves
“Bluegrass”
Linocut block print. A transition from the blue base to a white “sky” implies a distant horizon. While misregistered scarlet blades of grass alongside blue blades recalls the way grass is illuminated by the sun.
“Babbling”
Linocut block print. An exercise at using line quality to approximate characteristics of moving water.
“Reflected Moon”
Linocut block print. An abstraction of reflected light on the surface of water. An implied horizon line is established between water and sky.
“Pine Needles Misregistered”
Silkscreen print. A true jumble of random curves. I exposed actual pine needles onto the screen to produce the matrix of lines. The two passes of deep green and vermilion ink are intentionally misregistered to play with optical effects.
Botanic Installation at Ritz-Carlton, Cleveland.
This installation for September, 2024 uses a redundancy of linear elements to establish fine textures and undulating forms. Skeins of raffia snake their way among living grasses and curly willow cuttings.
LiminalLines
“Occlude”
Linocut block print. Inferred lines of celestial rays are blocked by an unknown body.
“Implied Circle”
Linocut block print. A circle is created by changing the direction of radiating lines.
Botanic Installation at Ritz-Carlton, Cleveland.
This installation for April, 2024 was created in connection with the total solar eclipse passing over on April, 8. Hundreds of feet of sisal twine radiate from the branches of trees to form planes that follow the natural curves of the branches.