The past two courses at SCAD Savannah College of Art and Design have provided excellent opportunities to explore new content in my work: Race and Religion. After painting Listen, 36×48 oil on panel in the summer of 2020, a surge of energy to explore uncharted territory with an ounce of uncertainty was present rather than a full gallon. I recalled on a quote from a previous course at the former Corcoran College of Art and Design in Washington DC “the system will set you free” at the beginning of the Fall 2020 drawing course. Religion and faith has always been a part of me, but had yet to surface in my work. In thinking about how could Religion be present in my work without being direct, representational or immediately recognizable, “the system will set you free” was my ticket to discover. I thought about what it must have felt like for God to be surrounded by all this space and imagine each day what do create with His elements and in just seven days. Incredible. Humble and in awe of this moment, I began my journey of developing a system using line and shape. The dot would get me to a line and at the end of each line in increments of an inch up to seven inches a shape. This daily drawing routine led me to the content of space, life and shelter. Each day of drawing this system of line and shape brought new imagery that pulled me in with fascination and momentum. Shading yielding the presence of light, shapes suggesting creatures and lines provoking shelter became an exciting adventure that took an ounce of faith to gain a gallon of new inspiring work.
This partial collection of fifty one hour drawings determined the compositions for a series of drawings Three of Sevens, 22×30 pen and pencil on paper. This series was so much fun in the challenges they presented to increase the scale, maintain a dynamic composition and sustain an interest in the surface through mark making. Three of Sevents: Space, Shelter, Life 22×30 pen and pencil on paper.
The series Three of Sevens 22x 30 pencil and pen on paper inspired my last drawing for this project that introduces color. The interesting part of applying color to my one hour drawings was my lack of desire to saturate the drawing. The pure mark in black and white revealing the repetition in creating texture was appealing. Creation, 22×30 mixed media on paper, 2020.
Paige P. Byrne 