Avian Handicraft expresses the dual meaning of man’s dwindling connection with nature and the value of handicraft through imagery of abstracted hummingbird nests. Ranging from earth tones and subtle textures to more prismatic, heavily textured surfaces, my paintings reveal the natural variety and uniqueness of actual hummingbird nests. For me, the nests stand in opposition to the problems of mass production and mankind’s assumed superiority over nature.
Using color, texture and form, the paintings in Avian Handicraft convey a connection between nature and aesthetic emotion. Each painting provokes a different emotion depending on how the lines, colors, and forms combine. My work intends to trigger an aesthetic emotion, while at the same time giving a general sense of forms from nature, connecting emotion with nature itself. With so much variety it is my hope that each viewer will feel an emotional connection with at least one of the paintings, connecting this emotion with the sense of serenity felt in a natural setting.
The handicraft aspect of my concept is influenced by the Arts and Crafts movement which began as reaction to poor quality mass produced goods and poor working conditions and wages in factories, problems still present today. The Arts and Crafts movement in America focused on the worker, the natural beauty of the materials, and making quality goods produced in small quantities.
Avian Handicraft is an abstract approach to these ideals. Referencing photos of humming bird nests, my abstract technique involves emphasizing specific natural materials used to make the nests such as moss, lichens, spider webs, and cattail down. Rough, tactile surface textures and a dull finish add to the natural quality. The colors are painted on in transparent layers with visual texture combined with a variety of line work. In a majority of the paintings it is possible to see through every layer of color and line, expressing the process of making the nest.
While the human race continues to grow more industrial, animals in the wild will continue to make nearly everything they need for themselves. There are many factors that go hand in hand with mass production: urbanization, pollution, and factory farms have put us in a position not only separate from nature, but also dominant over it. The unique qualities and expressiveness of natural forms in Avian Handicraft oppose mass production and confront the viewer with nature, working as a metaphor for what we have lost.
Using color, texture and form, the paintings in Avian Handicraft convey a connection between nature and aesthetic emotion. Each painting provokes a different emotion depending on how the lines, colors, and forms combine. My work intends to trigger an aesthetic emotion, while at the same time giving a general sense of forms from nature, connecting emotion with nature itself. With so much variety it is my hope that each viewer will feel an emotional connection with at least one of the paintings, connecting this emotion with the sense of serenity felt in a natural setting.
The handicraft aspect of my concept is influenced by the Arts and Crafts movement which began as reaction to poor quality mass produced goods and poor working conditions and wages in factories, problems still present today. The Arts and Crafts movement in America focused on the worker, the natural beauty of the materials, and making quality goods produced in small quantities.
Avian Handicraft is an abstract approach to these ideals. Referencing photos of humming bird nests, my abstract technique involves emphasizing specific natural materials used to make the nests such as moss, lichens, spider webs, and cattail down. Rough, tactile surface textures and a dull finish add to the natural quality. The colors are painted on in transparent layers with visual texture combined with a variety of line work. In a majority of the paintings it is possible to see through every layer of color and line, expressing the process of making the nest.
While the human race continues to grow more industrial, animals in the wild will continue to make nearly everything they need for themselves. There are many factors that go hand in hand with mass production: urbanization, pollution, and factory farms have put us in a position not only separate from nature, but also dominant over it. The unique qualities and expressiveness of natural forms in Avian Handicraft oppose mass production and confront the viewer with nature, working as a metaphor for what we have lost.
