Measured Drawings

I love dimension strings.  The fondness probably began when I was very young and would see the house plans and elevations my father had drawn – with the story of a home stretched around, inside, above and below.  The interest in these powerful lines and numbers to inform, to manifest a future object followed me to my education where I watched talented design, architecture and landscape architecture students create beautiful images of imagined work.  I am old enough to have experienced my design education without the aid of computer programs.  Everything was on the board, with pencil scrubbed corners to emphasize important points and dimensions strings added to tell the story of width, depth, height.  I have, for a time, been trying to reconcile the idea of stories with the natural and built environment.  My ‘measured drawings’ intend to capture a thought, to deliver an idea or a moment in time.  I hope you enjoy ~ there will be more to come….

Don't Look Down

Things Sheltered Unseen

Window Panes

Take Note

Muscadine Jubilee ~ Pelahatchie, MS

Deeply Rooted - titles this piece.







I am heading to Pelahatchie, Mississippi's Muscadine Jubilee this weekend with lots of new pieces.  If you are in the neighborhood - stop by!  It is sure to be a festive day.

http://www.pelahatchie.org/muscadine.php

Shelter Me.

Shelter.

A door

A window

A roof

A fireplace for warmth and walls to cut the wind.

The small tenant houses pictured are, I hope, still standing in Waverly, Alabama.. I passed them so many times on my drive from Mississippi to Auburn, Alabama when I was in college.  I loved their honest form and although I know little about their history, I can only assume that their inhabitants hoped for more, but were most likely also thankful for the simple shelter provided by each structure. 

I am not sure if my interest in the small dwelling started with the Waverly shelters or if it started when I was very young and spent time in the woods building structures out of cut bamboo and string or from the memories I have playing in the small house out back (which I have recently been told was actually a camper trailer that my Father parked on the hill behind our house) ~ that was a surprise.  

Here are a few of my recent shelter pieces.  The first, Silent Night,  is watercolor/pencil.  the second is a block print.  The last image is a concept sketch of a piece I will post soon. Enjoy~