DRAWING CHALLENGE XII
We are pleased to announce Nathaniel Galka, Maja Kihlstedt, Linda Stillman, Lorraine Tady, Jackie Tileston, and Mary Wheeler as the featured contestants of our Drawing Challenge XII which was inspired by words from Pablo Neruda's
“Keeping Quiet". Though written in the 1950s, this extraordinary poem was published posthumously in the
bilingual edition of "Extravagaria" (1974).
We would like to thank the artist Susan Schwalb for submitting these lines.
Now we will count to twelve
and we will all keep still
for once on the face of the earth,
let's not speak in any language;
let's stop for a second,
and not move our arms so much.
It would be an exotic moment
without rush, without engines;
we would all be together
in a sudden strangeness.
Fishermen in the cold sea
would not harm whales
and the man gathering salt
would not look at his hurt hands.
Those who prepare green wars,
wars with gas, wars with fire,
victories with no survivors,
would put on clean clothes
and walk about with their brothers
in the shade, doing nothing.
What I want should not be confused
with total inactivity.
Life is what it is about;
I want no truck with death.
If we were not so single-minded
about keeping our lives moving,
and for once could do nothing,
perhaps a huge silence
might interrupt this sadness
of never understanding ourselves
and of threatening ourselves with death.
Perhaps the earth can teach us
as when everything seems dead
and later proves to be alive.
Now I'll count up to twelve
and you keep quiet and I will go.
Linda Stillman, 12 Skies During Covid, 2020, ink jet print, 24 x 18 inches
“Since 2005 I have been recording the sky everyday, in various media. For 2020 I have been taking square photographs of the sky and posting them on a dedicated Instagram account. This is a montage of sky photos from late April and early May when the Corona virus was at its peak in New York. This daily practice is important to me as a way to mark time and focus on nature; during the Covid crisis it has taken on a new meaning. Like the words in this poem, I stop for a second: I marvel at the timeless beauty of the sky and think about the contrast with the troubles here on earth.”
- Linda Stillman, 2020
www.lindastillman.com
Maja Kihlstedt, When All is Quiet, 2020, graphite on paper, 22 x 30 inches
“For the past few years, my work has dealt with the fragility of our relationship with nature and the planet. The drawings are based on macro closeups of common plants and bio matter, discovering immense complex biological structures. It feels more urgent than ever that we as a species have to change in order to preserve the planet and ourselves.”
- Maja Kihlstedt, 2020
www.majakihlstedt.com
Yuko Shiraishi, keeping quiet, 2020, digital photo with cutout, 8 1/4 x 11 3/4 inches
Jackie Tileston, Parastrata #1, gouache and collage on paper, 30 x 22 inches
“I use abstraction as a form of dis-orienting, undoing what we know in order to be receptive. I want the viewer to be encouraged towards stillness, slowness, and the ability to stay with an image. What can be known in this mode that might be imperceptible at the high speed of image tsunamis we usually experience? In his essay "Visibility" from "Six Memos for the Millenium", Italo Calvino asks what it means to evoke images of things that are not there when the human race is inundated by a "flood of prefabricated images"
-Jackie Tileston, 2020
www.jackietileston.com
Lorraine Tady, Dynjandi (Westfjords, Iceland), Octagon Vibration Series, graphite, pastel, pigment on paper, 60 x 44 inches
”This work is part of a series that analyzes space, time and experience. Dynjandi is a waterfall in the Westfjords, Iceland. I arrived in Isafjordur in October following a travel grant from the Dallas Museum of Art. The immensity of the natural settings, the heights I climbed, the landscape I wandered, was fairly devoid of people. This poem reminds me of that time, when all of my responsibilities, all my efforts (whether it was failure or success) stopped and I became simply my experience of wonder. “
-Lorraine Tady, 2020
www.lorrainetady.blogspot.com
Mary Burton Wheeler, Evening Walk, 2009, monoprint, 6 x 5 inches
“Evening Walk is one of a series of monoprints showing a solitary figure in nature. I sought to express the idea that we make our way on the earth alone. There is sadness but also beauty in this. The Neruda poem speaks to me of stopping, and being quiet, both feelings I wanted to express in my prints.”
- Mary Wheeler, 2020
www.maryburtonwheeler.com
Nathaniel Galka, loves full circle..., 2020, oil on marble plastered jute on panel with gold leaf, 32 × 40 inches
Ellen Weider, Mirror Image, 2018, oil pastel, colored pencil and graphite on handmade Nepalese paper, 15 x 21 inches
David Rios Ferreira, We Would All Be Together in a Sudden Strangeness, 18 x 24 inches, watercolor, ink, and collage on paper
www.davidriosart.com
Elisa Decker, Stillness and Light, 2019, archival pigment print, 13 x 9 3/4 inches
www.elisadecker.org
Leonor Mendoza, Edge, 2020
www.leonormendoza.com
Julie Shapiro, Temporary, 2020, colored pencil, graphite, acrylgouache on collaged monoprint, 30 x16 inches
www.julieshapiroart.com
Carol Warner, Too Slender for the Eye, 2020, acrylic and ink on paper, 22 1/2 x 30 inches
www.carolwarnerstudio.com
Patricia Zarate, Daily drawing April 12-13, 2020 (diptych), 2020, black and red marker on dotted Fabriano paper, 8 1/4 x 6 inches
www.patriciazarate.com
Leo Löhr, Turn Around, 2020, charcoal, scratch, acrylic on wood, 8 1/3 x 6 inches
www.kuenstlerverzeichnis-koeln.de/Kuenstler/leo_loehr
"Poetic scenes found in the streets, bars, landscapes and all places people cross, poured over by the light and accompanied by shadow. A shot in the middle of action, a calm look into a mystery - the changing consciousness."
Tony Moore, Duck and Cover, 1994, Flashe on paper, 78 x 102 inches
www.TonyMooreArt.com
Linda Gottesfeld, Pandemic, 2020, ink on paper, 24 x 8 inches
Alice Zinnes, Lost in the Fog of Hope, oil on canvas, 36 x 44 inches
www.AliceZinnes.com
Jimbo Blachly, Arbor Intimacy : Inwood Hill Park, June 7th, 2020, reed pen and sepia ink on paper, 5 x 8 inches
jimboblachly.com
Marie Schoeff, Autograph - 2020-8, 2020, ink on handmade (Khadi/India) paper, diameter: 12 inches
www.marieschoeff.com
Moses Hoskins, Untitled, 2018, combined painting & drawing media on canvas, triptych: 36 x 96 inches (each panel: 36 x 32 inches)
www.moseshoskins.net
Soonae Tark, Untitled, 2020, acrylic on paper, 22 x 28 inches
www.soonaetark.com
Alicia Rothman, Uninhabited 3, 2020, oil and hand-cut stencils on panel, 8 x 10 inches
www.aliciarothman.com
Dane Goodman, the halcyon, graphite and colored pencil/paper, 12 x 8 inches
www.estradafineart.com
Emily Brown, Grasses C, 2009, walnut and Sumi inks on watercolor paper, 45 1/4 x 36 1/4 inches
Mie Yim, 2020, pastel on handmade paper, 12 x 9 inches
Nina Meledandri, Machine Learning, 2019, hand-made paper: abaca, pulp paint, string, 24 x 17 inches
www.instagram.com/nina_studio
Daniel Anthony Vasquez, Kitchen, 2019
Catherine Kernan, State of Transition, 2020, woodcut viscosity and offset monoprint, 18 x 59 inches
www.catherinekernan.com
Blinn Jacobs, Ad Infinitum #2 Light Year, Casein on incised gatorboard of different thicknesses, balsa wood, 33 x 22 inches
Anna Camner, Untitled, oil on acrylic sheet, 16 1/2 x 14 inches
Friederike Oeser, ART OF PROTECTION, oil pastel on paper, 15 3/4 x 15 3/4 inches.
www.friederike-oeser.de
”This work was created during a working journey in Berlin, on a cool cloudy day, when I withdrew to the peace and quiet of a museum. The various impressions in my artwork appear like symbols from another world; the creative process, my perception and imagination seem like a shelter, a pause, a refuge away from the busy world. "Now we will count to twelve and we will all keep still."
Deanna Sirlin, Inside Outside, 2020, acrylic on panel, 12 x 12 inches
www.deannasirlin.com
“I am very thankful for this poem of Neruda. During this time it has been a significant time of being silent, of reflection, but also at the same time one of focus, of paying attention to the world around us. It is time pause and attention at the same time.”
Norma Markley, 2+Yellow=Yellow, 2020, acrylic paint, thread on paper, 5 x 10 inches
www.normamarkley.com
“A spinning planet may or may not pick up bits and pieces or silence from another spinning planet.”
Ute Hoffritz, Balance, 2017, paper maché, wood, 35 x 170 x 21 cm
www.ute-hoffritz.de
Hilary Brace, Untitled, 2019, charcoal on matte polyester, 8 x 14 1/4 inches
www.hilarybrace.com
Nancy Berlin, Reaching Stillness, 2020, mixed media on wood panel, 11 inches x 14 inches
www.nancyberlinart.com
Aubrey Roemer, Deny the Stars and Suck the Honey, 2020, cyanotype, etching, ink and pastel on Arches paper, 24 x 18 inches
www.aubreyroemer.net
Deborah Morris, Untitled, 2020, acrylic, graphite, ink on Yupo, 14 x 20 inches
Robert G. Edelman, Scatter, 2020 (2013), charcoal, ink, pastel on paper, 9 x 12 inches
www.robertgedelman.com
Gloria Fiero, Covid number 8, 2020, acrylic, 18 x 24 inches
Susan Moss, Earthslide 538, 2020, oil crayon on paper, 44 x 60 inches
www.susanhmoss.com
Eric Banks, Silent Summer, 2016, acrylic-paper fusion on wood 10 x 10 inches
www.erictbanksart.com