The Wildcrafted Pigment Inventory
Black Birch—photograph, leaves on canvas, 36 x 36 in.
A collage using samples of each material used in the making of the local pigments
Red Oak—photograph, leaves on canvas, 36 x 36 in.
Foxfire Wood Fungus—photograph, wood on canvas, 6 x 6 in.
Hearthstone Bark—photograph, bark on canvas, 24 x 24 in.
White Oak—photograph, leaves on canvas, 36 x 36 in.
Red Maple—photograph, leaves on canvas, 36 x 36 in.
Sugar Maple—photograph, leaves on canvas, 36 x 36 in.
Black Birch—leaf pigment & oil on canvas, 24 x 24 in., 2020.
Foxfire—Foxfire fungus pigment, beeswax, & oil on canvas, 24 x 24 in., 2020.
White Oak—leaf pigment & oil on canvas, 24 x 24 in., 2020.
Red Maple—leaf pigment & oil on canvas, 24 x 24 in., 2020.
Sugar Maple—leaf pigment & oil on canvas, 24 x 24 in., 2020.
The complete set of my refined, locally sourced forest pigments
Foxfire and Pixie Cups—foxfire fungus, oil, beeswax, wood on canvas, 24 x 24 in.
Foxfire pigment powder on marble slab
Studio view
Refining black birch pigment powder
Sifting red maple pigment powder
In the studio
Works in progress
In process: red oak assisted aleatory monochrome
Creating black birch assisted aleatory monochrome
Leaf collage on canvas—photograph: red and white oak leaves, red maple and sugar maple leaves, Hearthstone bark
The Wildcrafted Pigment Inventory Project
The Wildcrafted Pigment Inventory Project is an ideological approach to connect the process of artmaking and materials in a given body of work. It explores the nature of color, focusing on its luminant, dynamic, vibrational impact on our environment and how that energy influences our liminal experience of where we find ourselves—between our inner perceptions and our external encounters with the natural world. The paintings and assemblages suggest a pronounced nostalgia for color and its spiritual dimension. The Wildcrafted Pigment Inventory Project forms a connection with the cycles of the real living world, actual organic plant-based colors, natural limitations, and most importantly, the precious impermanence of the moment.
Recalling natural pigments used in ancient practices that incorporate earth minerals, metals, and gems for paint making, The Wildcrafted Pigment Inventory Project imagines a set of paints created using the ephemeral palette found in deciduous New England trees.
First, large batches of leaves of one type or another are gathered, creating different collections of leaf material. The groups are then organized in an assortment of specific hues to inventory certain kinds of leaves and the range of colors they present.
Collections of these leaves are used to design and photograph “assisted aleatory” leaf monochromes.
Refined powdered pigments are produced by hand for making paint that is then used to create the series of Leaf Colors paintings, honoring both the fragility and enduring beauty of the natural environment.