Bark|Bark Artists' Statements

August, 2009

Earl Gutnik

"I grew up in the Red River Valley where trees were not as abundant as they are in Minnesota. Large cottonwoods by the Red River and towering elm trees lining the older neighborhood streets of my childhood established the memories that lie behind my approach to many of these pieces.

"I think trees and textiles have a lot in common. They both have a lot to do with texture. Bark with its rough, organic, earthy surface and leaves with their shiny, colorful surface and distinctive shapes become living, sculptural canopies on our landscape. The endless colors and patterns of fabric along with thread--which I use as a drawing tool--allow me to interpret nature as I see and understand it to be.

"I take my direction from what my hands are tactilely drawn to work with, and I think about what arrangements of fabric will relate to the imagery. After selecting and editing fabric options and choosing perfect colors of thread, I assemble the shapes and colorful patterns. The result is a picture painted in textiles."

John Pearson

"I enjoy trees’ complex, individualized forms and how their response to light and weather give expression to each day and season. And as living things they give evidence to cycles of growth, maturity, and decay. Birch trees have particularly captured my attention, both for their distinctive visual qualities and for their mythical and geographical associations.

"These works all began with a real tree (or part of one) in a real place that I have seen and captured photographically or, in the case of a piece or fragment, brought home with me. If the work is an intaglio print, I make a preliminary drawing in pencil, paint or charcoal that I use to work out the composition and to plan technical production. With a painting I usually establish a light sketch on the canvas and commence work. In either medium, the final outcome may be very different from my original intention as I discover new ideas while working on the piece and battle errors and dead ends along the way. As the work progresses I refer less and less to the original source material."

Both Gutnik and Pearson were working with tree, bark and wood imagery before the idea of putting together Bark|Bark for Swan Song Contemporary Arts arose during the winter of 2009. Although both observed the other’s work during the following months, they didn’t attempt to make their individual images or techniques connect in any particular way, allowing the theme itself to provide whatever unity was needed.

>Return to Bark|Bark home page