The Ghost Forest Out of the Ashes

This year has been so hard but I feel really good about my new project! It has been in the study and work it through phase for a quite a while and now I am making good progress. So, I’d like to introduce to you

the Ghost Forest - Out of the Ashes

Last fall, with wildfires raging on the west coast, our sky yellow-gray from smoke, and unable to breathe, I felt sick at the loss of forest lands and began to wonder how I could make something from the destruction. It came to me that by collecting ash from the fires I could then create carbon prints, transforming the charred wood into recorded images of the forests themselves. It is for this reason I use the carbon print process that was invented in 1855 and is considered the most archival of all printing processes as it contains no silver. Carbon, or soot, does not fade. Instead, the trees become the photographs, in an anticipation of natural regeneration after a fire. The process does encourage images to tear and frill on their edges, a property I use in my unique photographs.

Printed as lantern slides, the forest memory is held captive on sheets of glass accentuating both the fragility of life and our precarious position due to climate change. This is the Ghost Forest – Out of the Ashes. When installed, the Ghost Forest moves photography off the wall and into the middle of the room. Hung from the ceiling on pairs of cables that suggest the outline of the trees, the viewer is invited to wander through glimpsing all stages in the life of a forest; small understory flowers, historical logging, dappled light in the trees as well as the aftereffects of fire. 

 My intention is to transform the devastation from the sick panic of needing to evacuate to one of beauty with awareness. So far, I have collected ash from 5 different fires with travel to several other sites scheduled. In the U.S., there have been an average of 70,000 wildfires each year for the last 10 years. On completion the Ghost Forest will have 70 trees, each picture worth a 1000 fires. 

News from Eugene Printmakers - Snippets of Eugene

This summer, as a member of the Eugene Printmakers, you can find me here:

“Snippets of Eugene"

A Contemporary Art Installation/Performance 

by Eugene Printmakers, July to December, 2020

 BRIDGE Exhibitions of Contemporary Art, Covid-19 Pivot: 

Reflections Space Eugene Exhibitions 

 “Snippets of Eugene" A project details (updeated) by Eugene Printmakers

 What:  Printing/taking rubbings off of manhole covers and grates and other patterns and textures located on Eugene’s city streets, sidewalks and walls. Our prints will be on paper and fabric.

Who: Eugene Printmakers! We will be dressed in workers' coveralls and carry our printing supplies in buckets. (We will conform to all of the health and safety guidelines   related to Covid-19.) We'll invite the public to printing locations that we announce on social media. Everyone is invited to watch our demonstrations as well as participate in printing and take home a print. We will also involve the public by asking for suggestions of interesting patterns in our dear city. We will identify various patterns to print ahead of time and will post a calendar of event dates and locations. 

“Snippets of Eugene” will become mementos of places in our beloved city that the residents of Eugene will be able to take home with them. They will also be invited to experience printing patterns of their own choosing. Our concept is to call attention to the textures and patterns that we live with and often overlook in our everyday lives, and call attention to them as beautiful and compelling prints. The Eugene public will be able to go home with patterns from their favorite places, places that contain memories of events that punctuate their lives. 

When and Where: We will print multiple times between July 1 and December 31. 

We are planning to do two sessions during Visual Arts week in downtown (most likely on Broadway and Saturday Market. We'll be mindful not to block the traffic and be safe.) After that, we'll print in different neighborhood all over Eugene at least once a month. We'll announce our session on our social media and plan to live-feed our printing via Instagram, so anyone can watch us print from anywhere. We'll ask the public to point us to interesting manhole covers, street textures, grates or vent covers in their neighborhoods.

 It's confirmed that we will display the prints on paper in the LCC Downtown campus!  Throughout the course of the project, we will add to our installation in the storefront window to engage the public and for the public to follow the progress of “Snippets of Eugene.” The installation of prints will have a cumulative effect, as memories of beloved places accumulate in our memories as time goes on. 

We will create an online/virtual exhibition that we will post on social media and on our Eugene Printmakers website.

The public will have a chance to purchase “Snippets of Eugene” in the form of printed =T-shirts and bandanas, at each printing performance. The proceeds will be split among Eugene Printmakers, The ArtCity (who has been generously hosting our studio space) and one more local charity. 

We will also raffle off some printed merchandise from each printing event via an Instagram live-feed of the drawing! The purpose of sales and raffles will be to generate interest and excitement for the project and bring more participants to each event. 

How: We use non-toxic, dye-based fabric ink to print street patterns on paper, t-shirts, aprons, patches. (We'll make sure to clean up after ourselves, of course. We are good at that.)

$700 and the proceeds from sale will be used for the materials: (ink, rollers, paper, t-shirts, aprons, our worker’s uniforms, cleaning supplies etc.) for this project.

Why: It's a chance to pay close attention to where we call home. We'll use multiple media outlets to reach out to community members. This is a super FUN, interactive project within our community that will delight the public and lift spirits. It's guaranteed to satisfy a craving for creative, engaging and social activities during this crazy quarantine.

Eugene Printmakers are; Susan Lowermilk, Sean O’Reilly, Minette Roberts, Bronwyn Buffalino, Mika Aono, Jill Overley, Madison Colvin, Sue Schaeffer, Jennifer Andrews, Sarah Grew, Libby Wadsworth, Chelsea Santos