2017 to 2018 | Shedding Light

Traces of an Imaginary Walk | Abigail Doan (2017)

Today, on the Winter Solstice, there is a transition both celestially as well as practically, regarding our outlook and vision for the days to come. In this spirit, I am sharing several highlights from the past year as I look ahead to an even more resolved understanding of the placement (role) of objects and materials in my creative practice.

This past year found me experimenting with new materials: clay, print, scent (essences), as well as revisiting fiber as more of a connective tool rather than a sculptural endpoint.

I was also fortunate to collaborate with creatives like Beau Rhee of Atelier de Geste, Brece Honeycutt of On a Colonial Farm, Elizabeth Hohimer of APYNB, Elizabeth Brunner of Piece x Piece, Janis Stemmerman of Russell Janis, and Katrina Rodabaugh (during her residency at Instar Lodge) as well as examining my studio process more closely with a Succurro fellowship, An Artist Residency in Motherhood, and a Spring 2017 community gathering for environmental activism and movement practice at MoMA PS1.

Pioneer | Scent Exploration + Activism

PIONEER worktable documentation | photo: Abigail Doan, 2017

Project PIONEER, seasons 01 + 02, was conceived as a sensory-based tool to be used in conjunction with Walking Libraries 2016–2019. I commissioned Brooklyn-based studio, Atelier de Geste, to design a two part scent kit that might be utilized in both urban and open rural spaces to facilitate centeredness and navigational clarity in relation to environmental art strategies. 

I commissioned studio Atelier de Geste, to design a two part scent kit that could be utilized in both urban and open rural spaces as well as interior zones to help prompt a feeling of centeredness as well as clarity regarding environmental (art) activist strategies. PIONEER will be released during the late winter of 2018, paired with images from Walking Libraries and the atmospheric observations that surfaced.

The Longing for 'Environmental Togetherness'

'Cure for Nostalgia 01' with a home remedy, black walnut, and field linen

It is officially autumn now. 

Autumn always makes me nostalgic, perhaps more so than spring or summer. It might be the waning atmospheric light or the poignant scents that are associated with a composting harvest on the now fallow fields of our own fecundity. Everything begins to feel more internalized and the land knows this, too.

Wetland vegetation near our former family farm in the Hudson Valley

With every passing season, I am making a practice of returning to the familiar plots and fence lines of my childhood farm in the Hudson Valley. We no longer own this land, but because I still long for its atmosphere and sustaining climate of layered memories, I continue to check in seasonally to survey any changes. 

The plantings and fence lines of childhood wanderings | Hudson Valley (2017)

My senses feel both deadened and heightened during these visits. Sometimes the links seem broken, and often one has to listen more intently to connect through the fog. Why is it that the entire world feels so different from last season? How quickly are the crops rotating? In what manner is the earth's rich soil continually revealing what we need to see but still cannot grasp?

Catskills | Summer Sanctuary

The flowing Esopus Creek with Queen Anne's Lace in the Catskills Mountains

August is typically the quiet month. The one when folks either decide to go off-grid or when wanderlust travelers opt to share the beauty and nuances of every exquisite detail of their findings on the road.

I have been fortunate to spend the first portion of my August in the Catskill Park of New York State, not far from the farmland where I grew up and became sensitive to the atmospheric details of local seasons and the terrain of rural landscapes.

The porch at Cedar Grove | Thomas Cole Site in Catskill, New York,

a viewing portal to the mountains and Hudson River

Both the Catskill Mountains and the Hudson River Valley have a shared tradition of regional landscape painting, seasonal travel, as well as serene moments for deep reflection in nature. Every time I visit, I learn more about how attuned painters of the Hudson River School were to the specifics of botanical species as well as geological formations. It is always so inspirational to decode their layered drawings and paintings. 

Early morning at Scribner's Lodge, like gentle fog rolling through the mountains

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Please enjoy more photos and discoveries from the Catskills, here.

Also of note, the arts/events programming at the Thomas Cole Site in Catskill, New York.

Follow my new Instagram as well for upcoming news and future travel.

In The Steps of Folly Cove | Exhibition Catalogue

Detail of a my 96" x 48" block print on linen panel | on view In The Steps of Folly Cove

I am pleased to announce that Russell Janis Gallery has recently published an exquisite catalogue featuring exhibition and working photos as well as an essay by Elena Sarni on the critical context of the project, In The Steps of Folly Cove – Artist Print Invitational. 

Installation of printed artist panels at Russell Janis in Brooklyn

Artist, printmaker, and project curator, Janis Stemmermann, did a remarkable job of reviving the Folly Cove collaborative design spirit with her outreach to contemporary artists who may or may not have extensive printmaking experience. The range of linoleum block print design and hand-carving approaches was quite diverse, and reflective of both craft, pattern, and personal investigations.

Folly Cove Artist Print Invitational | Russell Janis

test print panel on the studio wall at Russell Janis in Brooklyn

I am thrilled to announce news of the upcoming exhibition and invitational print project, In The Steps of Folly Cove, organized by Russell Janis gallery and studio in Brooklyn, NY. My repeat print botanical design is based on an early scientific drawing by Ernst Haeckel, a German biologist, naturalist, and philosopher. I had not done any carving on linoleum block since junior high school, so my goal was to reintroduce myself to this process but in the spirit of a contemporary sketch and not a precise illustration of the plant form.

Block printing on Belgian linen double panel at Russell Janis studio

Janis Stemmermann of Russell Janis: "The Folly Cove Designers were an art and design collective that operated from 1939 to 1968 in Cape Ann, Massachusetts. I came across their archive when visiting the Cape Ann Museum in Gloucester, Massachusetts. As a collaborative printmaker, I was intrigued by how their simple format of carving and printing single color linoleum block prints brought together a community of artists and craftspeople that sustained them for so many years. I was very excited by this discovery and decided to invite a diverse group of creative practitioners from my own community to use the same approach at Russell Janis studio."

Block printed panels coming off the press at Russell Janis studio

To learn more about the unique prints created by participating artists – using the same approach as the historic Folly Cove Collective, follow this link to the project's campaign. 

Participating artists/printmakers include Peter Bregoli, Jean-Jacques Du Plessis, Louise Eastman, Jonathan Fabricant, Elise Ferguson, Susan Martin, Joe Peppe, Mylene Pionilla, Wendy Small, Barb Smith, Russell Steinert, Janis Stemmermann, Andy Yoder, and Abigail Doan.

In the Steps of Folly Cove

Print and Pattern Artist Invitational

June 17 - July 30, 2017
opening from 6 to 9pm

Russell Janis Gallery

292 Manhattan Avenue

Brooklyn, NY

(Graham Avenue, L Stop)

Russell Janis | Instagram