I am a context-based visual artist grounded in place related process. I make work informed by engaging with location, impermanence, and space, employing abstract expressionism to communicate emotional truths. Woven into the fabric of my work is the practice of artist as nomad.

In late February I came to Portland, Oregon to create art in collaboration with the wild natural places so abundant in the Pacific Northwest. As the pandemic spread, it became increasingly difficult to roam. Presently, mandates require isolation (primarily indoors); and that means inside an Airbnb.

Creating a studio space and making artwork while respecting the home that I am in, means making small work and reduced mess. I prepared 50 - 6x6” paper squares and painted them with a UV light sensitive solution. Day 1, Inside: using plastic waste, discarded fiber threads, and yarn scraps to randomly cover 4 pieces of the prepared paper, I taped the materials to the window allowing light from the outside to develop the prints.

Windows have my attention… framing the world beyond. As days pass, the immediate view comes into focus and details I might never have noticed reveal themselves. Time slows, beginning to match the natural worlds heartbeat. I fall into wonder and dreaming, contemplation and breathing, deepening the experience of solitude.

The first cup kisses away my thirst,

and my loneliness is quelled by the second.

The third gives insight worthy of ancient scrolls,

and the fourth exiles my troubles.

My body becomes lighter with the fifth,

and the sixth sends word from immortals.

But the seventh - Oh the seventh cup - if I drink you,

a wind will hurry my wings toward the sacred island.

(Lu tong 795-835A.D.)

Considering something personal- my enduring companion, always present, nourishing my soul, fueling inspiration, beckoning me to linger in the beyond... Tea and Coffee

Breathing

Being Breathed

the work that reconnects

image title: Cairn

video title: Being Breathed www.instagram.com/isoartfest

To the virus

Thank you

For making us stop

I hear bird song

See stars

Hear the sea

Colors are brighter

The air smells sweeter

I breathe deeper

Thank you

For interrupting us

We are sick

And everything on Earth

is sick because of us

We weren't paying attention

We didn't care

Thank you

The cacophony has ceased

Distractions are replaced

with intention

Disconnection

with reconnection

Thank you

For bringing balance

We are listening

We need you

I am a context-based visual artist grounded in place related process. I make work informed by engaging with location, impermanence, and space, employing abstract expressionism to communicate emotional truths. With the climate crisis rapidly changing the physical spaces around us, there is a real sense of urgency to my interest in how art can speak for those that can’t; the non-human beings and wild natural places remaining on our planet.

Today's theme is Unity. Deeply connecting to this world, I fall in love. I spent the day at a wetlands, listening to the natural world communicate, entering liminal spaces, and making work in collaboration with the mud, pond, algae, forest debri .... the gentle breeze and the changing light.

Title: Blue-Green Algae

Title: Lichen and Lace

"Another world is not only possible, she is on her way. On a quiet day, I can hear her breathing."

~ Arundhati Roy

Jess Carlock