Systems & Elements page 87 (2019)

Jane Buyers
Systems & Elements page 87
2019
graphite on digital archival print of a page from Critical Tables of Numerical Data, Physics, Chemistry and Technology (1930)
10 ¼ x 8 inches (image size), 18 x 14 inches (sheet size)
 
framed
 
 
The works in Colddust and Rootglow feature botanical images drawn in graphite over photographically reproduced book pages from vintage science textbooks and geology field notebooks.

The “botanical specimens” in these works are not natural, they are derived from second- hand domestic textiles, (table cloths, drapes, bedding) found by chance in thrift stores and flea markets. Once desirably stylish, these articles are now out-of-date, unwanted, abandoned. I select elements and motifs and develop them through a series of alterations and translations. These components are then “woven” and “stitched” together on the book page through slow, methodical drawing procedures.

The mingling of text, nature imagery and science is suggestive of herbals, floras, plant hunter folios, specimen books, field guides, Victorian commonplace books, albums and scrapbooks.