 |
| Title | Willow Creek |
| Artwork Description | Color drawing exhibits the reflection of a stand of deciduous trees off of a body of water. There is a grouping of logs in the foreground with what appears to be clumps of grass growing in the water around them. |
| Description on Object | Willow Creek; pastel |
| Notes | An interactive campus map of the University of Oregon may be viewed at: http://map.uoregon.edu/ |
| Artist Statement | A friend of mine once said that the only people who really possess a place are travelers, that the others who live there are all possessed by the place. I think this has something to do with the fact that experiencing the same thing repetitively tends to dull the senses and put one in something of a trance state. For me going to new places breaks that spell. I love to travel in the U.S. and overseas. As an artist choosing to do landscape it therefore comes naturally to create art as kind of journal of the places I have been. It is also a process of remembering images and feelings while on the move and then processing them in the studio into what you see here. North America has vast and wild landscapes which I love, but my home country of England fascinates me because not only is the landscape varied within very small distances but the addition of man- made artifacts provides an additional counterpoint to the landscape. Hedgerows and rock walls laid out hundreds of years ago delineate the contours of the hills. Artfully placed farmhouses or cottages that seem to have grown there rather than being placed there speak to the fact that man can co-operate with nature and improve rather than impose and distort by his presence. I suppose growing up in England has influenced my idea of what a landscape is and I am certainly drawn to pastoral places here in the Northwest such as Sauvies Island which is very much reminiscent of the the English landscape. I love trees especially the deciduous types that take on different shapes and colors throughout the year. They seem to express in form the interaction between the force within to grow and the force outside, the elements, that modify that force. This makes them very poetic. I find there is a language in the natural world that I attempt to decipher, and so I am always looking out for certain combinations and groupings in the landscape, certain phrases of images that say something to me. In this regard there is a long history to draw upon and I take a traditional approach to rendering what it is I see. I apply myself to the task of using techniques already laid down by artists of the past. I am not trying to break any new ground and feel it is an illusion to believe that every artist has to do so. Basic "craft" rather than "self expression" is what I am attempting to follow. Hopefully I can be of service and provide a reminder to the viewer, not just to myself of the beauty that surrounds us. I experiment with various media but I currently enjoy the medium of pastel for it's direct "hands on" quality. It allows me to blend and sculpt the pigment using my fingers and hands rather than the intermediary of a brush. I mix the colors right on the board or paper by blending, glazing and overlaying colors. This has taught me a lot about how color works. There is a pleasure when the picture looks the way one intended it to, when one has gained sufficient mastery of the tools, skills and materials, that the image emerges as intended. However, at the same time there is a parallel joy in allowing accidents to emerge, making use of serendipity and the life that a picture takes on by itself. (Stephenson, 1998) |
| LC Subject | Drawing
Pastel drawing
Trees in art
Trees
Landscape drawing
|
| AAT Subject | pastels (visual works)
|
| Creator | Stephenson, Allan
|
| About the Artist | Allan Stephenson is an artist who draws his inspiration from the natural landscape particularly that of his native British Isles and also that of the Pacific Northwest where he now makes his home. *I am always looking for and attempting to communicate with the viewer that special sense of place that infuses some areas of the natural world with meaning, wonder and beauty. I hope my work can provide some escape from the sometimes frenetic world we all live in. I am a traditionalist. I don't see the art I produce as breaking any kind of new ground but rather I apply myself to existing forms and attempt to inject perhaps fresh content. I am currently enjoying the medium of pastel for it's direct hands-on quality that allows me to blend and sculpt the pigment using my fingers and hands rather than the intermediary of a brush.* (excerpt from artist's exhibition list) |
| Artist URL | http://www.stephensonart.com/ |
| Regional Arts Council | The Oregon Arts Commission has ten Regional Arts Councils that provide delivery of art services and information. The Council for this location is Lane Arts. You may view their website at http://www.lanearts.org |
| Artwork Creation Date | 1999 |
| Award Date(s) | 1998
1999
|
| Installation Date | 1999 |
| Medium | Drawing
|
| Artwork Measurements | 38 x 28 inches |
| Materials/Technique | pastel; museum board |
| Source Format | slide
color
|
| Artwork Site | Eugene Oregon. University of Oregon. Knight Law Center
|
| Location | second floor, left of library |
| Site Address | 1515 Agate Street, Eugene Oregon |
| County | Lane County, Oregon
|
| Image Processing History | Master tiff image captured at 4000 pixels across the long edge using SilverFast AI 6.0 software. Digital images in tiff format are archived and saved. Adobe Photoshop CS2 used to reorient and crop image, set and neutralize shadow and highlight points, adjust levels, contrast and sharpen as needed. Second production tiff saved. Color profile converted from Adobe RGB (1998) to sRGB IEC61966-2.1, resolution revised to 125 pixels, resize longer dimension to 875 pixels; save display jpeg at quality level 6. |
| Rights | Copyright is retained by the artist or author. All rights reserved. |
| Contributors | University of Oregon Libraries; Oregon Arts Commission |
| Publisher | University of Oregon Libraries
|
| Digital Collection Title | University of Oregon. Libraries. Oregon Public Percent for Art Digital Collection.
|
