Sandy Bradley: Observations
Sandy Bradley and Joan Stuart Ross have officially finished their Espy residency but plan to continue working together on their “Cadence and Contemplation” project. Sandy recently shared some observations about themes that have shaped this work:
“Joan is very intensely focused on encaustics and color — how could we possibly meet in the middle? A backup musician at heart, I chose to make a setting for her encaustics that would present the melody of her lyrical work.
Sometimes visual art is produced to present the artist’s vision. Sometimes it is just the artifact of processes the artist happens to enjoy.
The sights in nature that give me the most joy are things like hundreds of birds flying/flashing/turning together (produced by each bird making decisions to try to stay entrained with the other birds, averaging out the distances and directions on all sides of himself), spartina grass washed up on shore in chaotic patterns that include rhythmic parallel placement determined by whim of wind and wave, anything that involves nature placing similar objects in rhythmic ways.
How many things need to be alike for unity, and how many options for differences need to be included to get that effect? In putting patterns on bowls I cut one width of tape (subject to human variation) of 2-5 lengths, and made one or two rules about how to put them on the bowl (like ‘no right angles’ or ‘no free ends’). Just these limits led to coherent designs. I collected a huge handful of buzzard feathers on the beach, then threw the whole handful into the air. The wind carried them along, all similar kites landing on a surface with little variation, and the pattern they formed on the beach displayed a similar extent of variation.
One series of tiles was 8″ squares with a 4″ window placed off center. They were all cut the same, outside edges relatively even. Then I placed spartina grass on it and pounded it in a little, which altered the inside edges of the smaller square and left the grass impression. The tiles have four 90 degree rotations, which places the small square in a different corner each time. The combination of the rotations randomly arranged presented the right amount of variability to suggest a natural randomness that we see as ‘natural.’ Joan’s smallest paintings were arranged behind the little windows, suggesting an array of impressions of natural themes here. I especially like how the piece makes valid impressions from a distance or close up.
The tiles of local dredge spoils with goat footprints is a glorious red color! Very rough, but of a sort. The last ones are firing right now. Another series of tiles reflects positive and negative impressions of the petrel. They’re in the kiln, too. I think we will be able to produce 3 or 4 more arrays in this series.”