Stacey Cushner: Intangible Aspects of the Forest

Artist Statement

Forests today are part fantasy and part dread. I'd rather think of the fantasy part to lift my spirits up. My drawings and installations in Intangible Aspects of the Forest harken to the time I looked in wonder at the woodland while walking to school through one particular mini-forest. This was a short cut I took when I didn't take a bus. It was a patch of earth, no bigger than two tractors, hidden from the street, or so I thought. I called this space my own. There were fabulous greens, bright blue skies, old oaks, towering pine trees, butterflies, birds, and thick unwieldy grass as well as tossed beer cans and cigarette stubs. I paused and wondered.

And in wondering the mind drifts. As Daniel Goleman's Focus: The Hidden Driver of Excellence states, while focusing enables us to solve problems and achieve goals, daydreaming and mind wandering is our brain in default mode. Self-reflection, incubating new ideas, finding inspiration, and thinking creatively are the benefits of a mind adrift.

The work in this show recreates visual memories of those moments in blue color pencil and graphite drawings and through installations. The saturated blue hues and phalo blues are vibrant, making us feel alive, and the blue tree compositions allow much white space in between the trees, a calming visual. I've used pointillism where the blue pencils become blended to produce depth of color and luminosity. The graphite marks in other drawings are used sparingly so you can see the features of the trees and the textures of the bark. In another work called Scenic World, several snow globes are lined with forests and figurines, conveying a rendition of the Garden of Eden. But even in the Garden of Eden, reality can set in. Fallen, a graphite drawing, depicts fallen trees and regeneration. Fallen trees make way for new habitats – this is nature's way of recycling and then reviving itself.

This is a world I want to continue to be in.