Artist’s Statement
Can I read dirt like tea leaves? If I sit for long enough looking,
will the earth reveal its order?
I
find images in nature, slowly drawing at sites and from photos to
explore ideas that float in my head. I am interested in the recursive
patterns that repeat when contrasting human history with geologic
history. Looking at these patterns, I find stories of change; layers of
lines and shapes illustrate the narrative. The natural world is a
crucible and mirror of our existence. It reflects, defines and is
altered by our actions.
In many of these images, I maintain a tight focus to create individual
portraits of the trees and cliffs. Rather than lay out a wider
landscape, I find details that materialize as script. What language is
being built within these layers of growth, accretion and decay? The
patterns speak of time and change. Though silent, these places are the
physical embodiment of past environmental events, human and otherwise.
Several thoughts arose as I walked
around the unusual landscape at Lava
Tree State Park in
Hawaii. First, I noticed the physical characteristics of the geologic
formations. They reminded me of standing stones in the British Isles.
These rocky structures became cocoons, sarcophagi, rotting trunks.
I tried to imagine the event that
formed this landscape, as I sketched. Once upon a time, a river of lava
flowed very fast through a forest and then quickly drained away to the
sea. The trees, wet, must have steamed and created explosions as they
were consumed by the deluge. They held just enough moisture to cool a
thin layer of lava, leaving behind encasements once the flow receded.
These lava casts preserve the
impression of the trees far longer than the trees normal lifespan. It
is ironic that the same event that destroyed the trees preserved their
memory.
Anna K. McKee
May 2008
