July 2007 - Vol. 10
Glacier,
Sea, and Mountain
recent
art work by Jamie Treadwell
John
Muir Glacier - acrylic painting
Introduction:
In July
2006 Jamie Treadwell toured the inner coastal regions of southeast Alaska
on an expedition passenger ship, the Sea Lion. Beginning in Sitka and ending
in Juneau, for 7 days the ship explored the inlets and sounds bordered
by glacier-scoured peaks. At sea level temperate rain forests rise steeply
up from the deep waters into massive ice fields above. The glaciers flow
like massive rivers, moving up to 7 feet each day. During the trip Jamie
took photographs, notes and sketches that have been used over the past
year in London to capture the impressions of the magnificent landscape. |
Artist Statement:
The Alaskan landscape is awe inspiring. Over
the past year I have returned again and again to explore in my painting
the fantastic majesty and dynamic nature of Alaska. As I began painting
the series, I worked representationally, painting the landscape as I saw
it. As the paintings developed, I left the representational behind, and
sought a more direct expression of the ‘inner dynamics’ of the landscape.
The play of light through mist on sharp edged mountains blurred through
sheets of rain, dark mysterious ocean depths reflecting powerful volcanic
mountains, the colour and textures of mountain sea and sky became my subject
matter. The action of the painting itself became important, for example
the use of powerful brushstrokes contrasting with subtle washes reflect
the nature of the volcanic mountain and ocean weather. The final two painting
of the series “Glacier, Sea, Mountain” and “Ice and Sea” are visual poems.
Behind the painting “Ice and Sea” is the experience of watching a 200 foot
wall of ice collapse into the sea. This painting focuses on a detail -
the transparent blue glacial ice against the sea green of the ocean at
the moment of impact. This detail captures a moment in the endless process
of transformation as the glaciers crash into the sea.
This series is a celebration of God’s creation.
The power of nature, majesty, greatness, are all virtues from the Lord
our God, reflected in his creation.
John
Muir Glacier - sketch
John
Muir Glacier Front - sketch
As Browning states it, the point of painting something
is not to reproduce it exactly (which is impossible anyway), but rather
to represent it in such a way that it enables others to see the reality
of that which is represented for the first time. The pedantic mind may
wonder why we should paint the apple when we already have the real apple
here. Isn't the real apple more realistic? Why make another one, that is
less realistic? But the point of a great painting is not that we have had
a shortage of apples, but rather that we have not yet understood apples
the way we ought. The painting of the apple is not to compete with the
real apple in order to replace it, which would be silly, but rather to
name it in such a way that I begin to see real apples differently.
The nature of the artist’s contribution in helping
man ‘see’.
Art as Covenant
Naming, by Douglas Wilson
John
Hopkins Inlet - acrylic painting
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Glacier,
Sea, Mountain - acrylic painting
To
An Alaskan Glacier
by Charkes Keeler
Out
of the cloud-world sweeps thy awful form,
Vast
frozen river, fostered by the storm
Upon
the drear peak's snow-encumbered crest,
Thy
sides deep grinding in the mountain's breast
As
down its slopes thou plowest to the sea
To
leap into thy mother's arms, and be
There
cradled into nothingness...
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Forest
Ridge - acrylic painting
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Rain
on the Ridge - acrylic painting
Alaska
by Charles A. Keeler
Fiords of the far west shore, where peaks sublime
Are cloudward thrust 'neath folds of glistening snow
With hoar and frigid streams that tideward flow,
Sculpturing
their cliffs and crags which mount and climb
Full
in the sight of Heaven -- grim heirs of Time,
Stern children of Eternity,that grow
Austere and terrible 'mid storms that blow
Their lusty trumpets in the tempest's prime.
What joy is this to float upon thy tide,
So blue, so beautiful -- to gently glid
'Mid islets forested, past shores that stand,
Dark Portals opening to enchantment's land,
Where all is but a dream, soon, soon to be
Lost in the purple mist of memory.
[See also:
Faith,
Vision, and Art by Jamie Treadwell]
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