Stream of Consequences

The SAQA show, Earth Stories, has opened at the Michigan State University Museum. My entry, Stream of Consequences, honors the work being done by the Wolf River Conservancy.The show is an invitational devoted to good things happening on the earth. The statement for the piece is below the images. Each artist created two pieces, one that measured 12" x 14" and the actual piece, measuring 72" x 72".

Stream of Consequences, ©2013, Paula Kovarik, 11 x 14

Stream of Consequences, ©2013, Paula Kovarik, 71.5" x 71"

It comes from the country, courses through the suburbs, and wraps around the city of Memphis. The Wolf River, a small spring fed river of 90 miles, is one of the great arterial systems of the Mississippi River and all the life that it nurtures. As it flows, it filters, it floods, it captures and distributes. It is a filament that takes everything that flows downhill and sends it forward. It is the meandering collector of last resort for runoff, sprawl, industry and agriculture. Efforts to control it, channel it, or deny its value nearly led to its ruin—until it gained an advocate.

Since 1985, The Wolf River Conservancy has protected and defended the river in the face of development and abuse. The group has cast the Wolf as a community treasure that physically weaves the region together. They know full well its vital function and spectacular potential. They understand it is a pattern that connects.

See the show at:
Michigan State University Museum, May 11 - November 30, 2014, East Lansing, Michigan
University of Central Missouri Gallery of Art and Design, January 19 - February 28, 2015, Warrensburg, Missouri


progress

Following a dead zone in creativity and centeredness I have finally made some progress on the piece I am temporarily calling Everything's Connected. This one started as an exploration of bulbous cloud shapes, morphed into an assemblage of random shapes and figures and now lives on with new linkages. I am focusing on how the brain sorts and associates random thoughts into a cohesive (but confusing) whole.

A harbinger of Spring.

As I rode my bike on Monday I saw a robin ahead of me on the path. He (or was it a she?) had just landed so I swerved to the side to avoid him. As I approached his location he rose up and flew right into the path of my bike tire. Robin suicide. I was so shocked I couldn't finish my ride. It has stuck with me all week. Do I need a noisemaker on my wheels? Should I have called out a warning? What to do with a dead robin on the side of a path? Had he ingested some disorienting herbal mixture? I guess I will never know. RIP little guy.

good morning texture

Random Thoughts, Paula Kovarik, 2014

The studio brims with sunlight this morning, casting it's eye on the Random Thoughts piece I am finishing up. Started another layer of detail yesterday that you may or may not see in this shot.

More later. must go back to work.