Independents Drawing

Lucy’s artistic process begins with field research. This ranges from studies drawn on site to color and texture studies made in the studio from collected bark samples. She uses her samples as a model to help ‘carve’ these detail variations out of the paper with a graphite pencil, a technique used to create her individual, isolated trees or an amalgam of said trees to form an indigenous forest. Trees differ per drawing or painting since Lucy works within a localized geographic area. Witnesses Musing Lucy Kalian remains unapologetically representational in her art. “My title for this current body of work, ‘Witnesses’, refers not only to the thoughtful observer, but also to woodlands, trees, and their remains that have a further reaching biography than most of us walking the land today. They’ve witnessed yearning and understand urgency regarding the turmoil currently present throughout the world. The woods bear witness to a changing ecosystem and changing ‘humansystem’.” “As I young girl, I would wake early and go into the wooded valley between our home and a local farm. A favorite, fallen tree harbored pencils and paper. Hours were spent wandering, drawing and writing. I awakened most days with a deep sense of yearning and urgency that had to be confronted. Not much has changed. My days begin earlier and I now share my musings.” Independents (from the larger Witnesses series) By Lucy KH Kalian 38" x 52" (unframed size); framed 42" x 54" Graphite on Stonehenge Paper