Vortex Drawings
Highpoint Center for Printmaking, Minneapolis, 2017
This mechanical vortex used eight, 24-inch barrel fans placed in a 12-foot circle to create a series of mechanical drawings formed by the wind interacting with anthropogenic materials (man-made pollutants), pigments, and substrate. The process for creating the drawings included taping down Tyvek or other substrate to the floor; applying gesso and other grounds; applying painting materials such as graphite and alcohol, or linseed oil, turpentine, and pigments to polystyrene packing peanuts or cups; and submitting these materials to the wind vortex. As these materials whirl around and make contact with the paper they produce unique drawings emblematic of natural phenomena such the Pacific Trash Vortex. Eighteen, unique drawings, about 8'x 8' each, were produced during a residency at Highpoint Center for Printmaking, 2017.
http://highpointprintmaking.org/project/vortex/
http://www.mnartists.org/article/and-watching-them-so-were-we
