Untitled, 30"h x 20"w, Ink on lokta paper [private collection]

Slow Draw:
The Ant's Journey

In these line drawings, once again paper plays a significant role. The handmade, colored papers from Tibet and Nepal embody something of the character, feelings, and skills of those far-off paper makers, and I view my work as an unspoken collaboration with them.

The controlled, meditative process of drawing line upon line demands exhaustive patience and abiding commitment. While the cumulative irregularities of my hand's movements eventually evolve into rippling rhythms and forms, the serendipitous events require constant vigilance. The smallest quiver can become a broad gesture, and a sweeping movement may be reduced to nothing. Where and how lines start and stop, and when and how they intersect all are critical considerations. The image surfaces incrementally after making hundreds of such slow, decisive journeys across the paper.

As much as they represent spiritual and physical journeys, these pieces are imaginings of fingerprints, the flow of coursing water, aerial topographies, or the path of the determined ant; the ambiguity suggestive of a macro or microcosm of the natural world.