REGENERATION

I pint on pieces of scavenged, deteriorating plywood. I think of them as rescues, and I am deeply aware of the living being that was once a tree; that it was used, maybe abused, and then abandoned.

On one level my impulse to do this work is a direct emotional response to these discarded objects. On another level, the work engages with the complex experience of living in a shared environment, where human activity has a great impact on the elemental world.

As I begin my process, I honor that the plywood pieces are already fully loaded with their own energy and history. I am moved by their inherent beauty, and in the process of working with them, I feel that I am gently bringing some intention to all of their histories. This is a process of respect, re-use, resurrection, and perhaps redemption.  

I use deteriorating plywood scraps to make inked impressions on paper. The resulting images reveal the latent energy in the plywood; indeterminate landscapes, ambiguous emerging figures, and celestial worlds.

These are evocations of spirit, rebirth, and fertility. To make images with these discarded objects is to learn that they have their own power and agenda and to recognize that they communicate with us in mysterious and subliminal ways.

Ted Thirlby