Morning View, oil on panel, 10x8", 2015
Showing posts with label Missing mountains. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Missing mountains. Show all posts
Saturday, September 5, 2015
Friday, September 4, 2015
Friday, August 22, 2014
ArtSpace 525 at 525 N. Tryon
I've got new work on display at ArtSpace 525 at 525 N. Tryon. Thanks to Amy Bagwell and Sharon Dowell for including me in Man vs Nature.
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| Pine Mountain, Kentucky (View from Google Earth), oil, 40x60", 2014 |
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| Top: Hazard Strip Mine (View from Google Earth), oil, wax, and coal dust on panel, 16x20", 2013 Right: Pippa Passes Mine (View from Google Earth), oil, wax, and coal dust on panel, 7x5", 2013 Left: Arthur Brothers |
Thursday, May 30, 2013
Landscape studies
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| Carolyn Jacobs, Jacobs' Ridge study #1, oil on canvas panel, 4 x 6", 2013 |
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| Carolyn Jacobs, Reclaimed Strip Mine study #1, oil on canvas panel, 4x12", 2013 |
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
Friday, July 30, 2010
Saturday, September 20, 2008
How Many Routes to Home?
Yesterday as I sat in Charlotte traffic, allowing my mind to wander, I started to think about how much nicer it would be to live in the country again. No traffic lights, no honking cars...only one or two routes to get where you're hoping to go. To be able to look at trees, and streams and notice that Mr. Sparkman had deer in his yard. It takes 30 minutes to commute to work about 10 miles from my doorstep....on really bad days, it takes up to an hour. Once or twice I've turned around and worked from home.
I sat through yet another traffic light; NPR droning on from the radio, and tried to think objectively. If there is a traffic issue on one route, I can usually find another route pretty easily. When I lived on top of the mountain, we had to time our morning commute very carefully. You had to be sure to leave before Mr. Slone (an alias, of course) had crossed over the mountain. He drove a steady 15 miles an hour at all times, all weather. Because the roads were so curvy and narrow, it was almost impossible to pass him. If you didn't time it right to be in front of him, you were taking in the world at a snails pace. It would take 30 minutes or more to go anywhere. You had time to note the trees as well as the garbage that had been dumped beside the road. You had a chance to realize that the deer in the yard were plastic (still love the "No hunting" sign), and note the houses that were being well maintained, as well as the ones that weren't. While it was frustrating to be caught behind this one man traffic snarl, it was kind of funny too. You didn't feel so pressured that you had to get somewhere, and you could see the humor of it.
Now I fight that feeling of pressure all the time. It seems like I'm always running late, and there's never enough time and energy to do what needs to be done. I don't always take time to notice when there are trees, streams and parks. I don't always really look at the public art (both good and bad) like I should. It's interesting to take a different route every so often just to note the new commercial and residential construction that sprouts up every day. But often I'm so focused on getting there, it's all a blur.
Maybe that's what makes the mountain home...that the feeling that life is something to experience rather than a destination that must be achieved at a certain pace. Maybe I should notice what's around me at traffic lights and jams rather than wasting my energy on being frustrated about not being there when I'd planned.
I sat through yet another traffic light; NPR droning on from the radio, and tried to think objectively. If there is a traffic issue on one route, I can usually find another route pretty easily. When I lived on top of the mountain, we had to time our morning commute very carefully. You had to be sure to leave before Mr. Slone (an alias, of course) had crossed over the mountain. He drove a steady 15 miles an hour at all times, all weather. Because the roads were so curvy and narrow, it was almost impossible to pass him. If you didn't time it right to be in front of him, you were taking in the world at a snails pace. It would take 30 minutes or more to go anywhere. You had time to note the trees as well as the garbage that had been dumped beside the road. You had a chance to realize that the deer in the yard were plastic (still love the "No hunting" sign), and note the houses that were being well maintained, as well as the ones that weren't. While it was frustrating to be caught behind this one man traffic snarl, it was kind of funny too. You didn't feel so pressured that you had to get somewhere, and you could see the humor of it.
Now I fight that feeling of pressure all the time. It seems like I'm always running late, and there's never enough time and energy to do what needs to be done. I don't always take time to notice when there are trees, streams and parks. I don't always really look at the public art (both good and bad) like I should. It's interesting to take a different route every so often just to note the new commercial and residential construction that sprouts up every day. But often I'm so focused on getting there, it's all a blur.
Maybe that's what makes the mountain home...that the feeling that life is something to experience rather than a destination that must be achieved at a certain pace. Maybe I should notice what's around me at traffic lights and jams rather than wasting my energy on being frustrated about not being there when I'd planned.
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Missing Mountains, mother cries
Missing Mountains (mother cries), 2007collage; oil pastel, coal, thread
This image was exhibited at the America Recycles exhibit in November, 2007---I'm late putting it up.
Here is an article about work....http://www1.cpcc.edu/spark/features/art-instructor-finds-inspiration-from-childhood/
detail of Missing Mountains (mother cries). This image is made up of xerox copies of aerial images of strip mines in Kentucky and West Virginia. The forested area is compiled of views around my parents home. Dad found the lump of coal for me.
Thursday, March 6, 2008
Watercolor Demo----"High Rocks"
Monday, February 18, 2008
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Sunrise over Jacobs' Ridge
View from my parents back porch......As Thanksgiving approaches, I'm feeling a little homesick. If you pan to the left of the frame of the photo, you'll see a large, old strip mine.Sunday, October 28, 2007
Help save mountain streams!
I received this email about how mining is polluting mountain streams, and I encourage anyone who reads this to follow the link and stop this before it gets any worse!
KFTC ACTION ALERT: October 26, 2007ADD YOUR VOICE TO A GREAT SHOWING IN HAZARDKFTC members made a great showing at the public hearing in Hazard on Wednesday night. They spoke in a loud, unified voice: "Protect Kentucky's streams. Don't eliminate the buffer zone rule that prevents coal mining in streams. Just enforce the law!"Now it is your turn to add your voice to theirs.The coal industry wants to eliminate the rule that prohibits them from mining within 100 feet of a stream, and the U.S. Office of Surface Mining is working to push this change through. In fact, the way OSM is proposing to re-write the rule it would actually encourage mining in streams! All of this is designed to remove any legal or environmental impediment to uncontrolled mountaintop removal mining.At least 135 people attended the hearing in Hazard, the majority to oppose this giveaway to industry. Thirty-four people publicly spoke on the rule change, with 29 supporting KFTC's position that our streams should receive a high level of protection. Our allies in other Appalachian coal states made similar impressive showings at simultaneous hearings in their respective states.
Visit http://www.kftc.org/blog and http://www.kftc.org/streams to read more about the hearing and learn about the issue.Would you submit written comments calling on OSM to abandon this proposed rule change and instead enforce the law to protect our streams? This is an issue that has national implications and we need thousands of comments from Kentucky and the United States.1.
You can go directly to http://www.700mountains.org to send a prepared letter to OSM as well as to your members of Congress. There are also links to this site through the KFTC web pages listed above if you want to learn more about the issue first.2. You can send your comments directly to OSM by regular mail.Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and EnforcementAdministrative RecordRoom 252-SIB1951 Constitution Avenue, NWWashington, DC 20240Reference Docket # 1029-AC04.Comments must be submitted by November 23, 4:30 p.m.
But please don't wait!Thanks for all those who came from across the state to the Hazard hearing. And thank you for helping that call for justice grow louder by submitting your written comments.
----------------------------------------------------------PLAN AHEADPlease plan to come to Frankfort on Thursday, February 14, 2008 for KFTC's "I Love Mountains Rally and Lobby Day." We need a large turnout to convey a strong message that we demand that our mountains, streams, people and heritage be protected.
----------------------------------------------------------MAKE THIS WORK HAPPENWe are in the middle of KFTC's Fall Fundraising Campaign, our most important fundraising drive of the year. Please consider becoming a KFTC member, renewing your membership or making a donation today. You can do so online at: http://www.kftc.org/join-buy-donate. Thanks!Jerry HardtKFTC Communications Director
KFTC ACTION ALERT: October 26, 2007ADD YOUR VOICE TO A GREAT SHOWING IN HAZARDKFTC members made a great showing at the public hearing in Hazard on Wednesday night. They spoke in a loud, unified voice: "Protect Kentucky's streams. Don't eliminate the buffer zone rule that prevents coal mining in streams. Just enforce the law!"Now it is your turn to add your voice to theirs.The coal industry wants to eliminate the rule that prohibits them from mining within 100 feet of a stream, and the U.S. Office of Surface Mining is working to push this change through. In fact, the way OSM is proposing to re-write the rule it would actually encourage mining in streams! All of this is designed to remove any legal or environmental impediment to uncontrolled mountaintop removal mining.At least 135 people attended the hearing in Hazard, the majority to oppose this giveaway to industry. Thirty-four people publicly spoke on the rule change, with 29 supporting KFTC's position that our streams should receive a high level of protection. Our allies in other Appalachian coal states made similar impressive showings at simultaneous hearings in their respective states.
Visit http://www.kftc.org/blog and http://www.kftc.org/streams to read more about the hearing and learn about the issue.Would you submit written comments calling on OSM to abandon this proposed rule change and instead enforce the law to protect our streams? This is an issue that has national implications and we need thousands of comments from Kentucky and the United States.1.
You can go directly to http://www.700mountains.org to send a prepared letter to OSM as well as to your members of Congress. There are also links to this site through the KFTC web pages listed above if you want to learn more about the issue first.2. You can send your comments directly to OSM by regular mail.Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and EnforcementAdministrative RecordRoom 252-SIB1951 Constitution Avenue, NWWashington, DC 20240Reference Docket # 1029-AC04.Comments must be submitted by November 23, 4:30 p.m.
But please don't wait!Thanks for all those who came from across the state to the Hazard hearing. And thank you for helping that call for justice grow louder by submitting your written comments.
----------------------------------------------------------PLAN AHEADPlease plan to come to Frankfort on Thursday, February 14, 2008 for KFTC's "I Love Mountains Rally and Lobby Day." We need a large turnout to convey a strong message that we demand that our mountains, streams, people and heritage be protected.
----------------------------------------------------------MAKE THIS WORK HAPPENWe are in the middle of KFTC's Fall Fundraising Campaign, our most important fundraising drive of the year. Please consider becoming a KFTC member, renewing your membership or making a donation today. You can do so online at: http://www.kftc.org/join-buy-donate. Thanks!Jerry HardtKFTC Communications Director
Friday, July 13, 2007
Missing Mountains
I just got this book about mountain top removal in Kentucky....wow!
It features writing about the mountains by Appalachian writers such as Wendell Barry. I will post more when I've read the book.
For more info, or to order the book, go to:
Kentuckians for the Commonwealth at http://kftc.org/ It's full of info that will blow your mind.
Thursday, June 21, 2007
Little paintings....
I am suffering from a short attention span, so I have begun working on some little paintings. I have always believed that more headway is made by working through these spells than thinking through them. So, without regard to the possibility that I may paint over them tomorrow...I am painting whatever catches my eye. I have no grand concept to push me in one direction or another....yet.
Chuck Close:"Inspiration is highly overrated. If you sit around and wait for the clouds to part, it’s not liable to ever happen. More often than not work is salvation."
This is a little 5x7" oil of a lovely tree that sits in the sloping front yard of my parents home in eastern Kentucky. I don't do many landscapes anymore, but what fun to push color around this little canvas, keeping things loose and working from dark to light. This afternoon I was listening to NPR do story on coal (link to the story at the bottom of this post), which provides 50% of the energy used in the US. I knew it used to be quite prevalent, but hadn't realized the country was still so dependent on it. 
There is a movement afoot in the government to make us even more dependent on coal. If this happens, the speaker (whose name I didn't catch), stated that eastern KY would become essentially an industrial wasteland. From my parents home, which sits on top of one of the highest peaks, the evidence of this is already visible. The photo at left is the view from my parents backyard. This section of the strip mine is slowly being reclaimed by vegetation and elk, but it is still an ugly scar on the vista. Twenty years ago I was in grad school in Knoxville, and I would come home to visit and stew over the scar being ripped into the landscape. Yes, I know the miners must feed their families, and the options are not all that plentiful in eastern KY. But, there had to be a better way. There still has to be a better way. In the late 80's I learned that land on many strip mines were not reclaimed after the mining was completed because it was cheaper to pay the fines than to reclaim the land. I don't know if this is still the case...I hope not.
There is a movement afoot in the government to make us even more dependent on coal. If this happens, the speaker (whose name I didn't catch), stated that eastern KY would become essentially an industrial wasteland. From my parents home, which sits on top of one of the highest peaks, the evidence of this is already visible. The photo at left is the view from my parents backyard. This section of the strip mine is slowly being reclaimed by vegetation and elk, but it is still an ugly scar on the vista. Twenty years ago I was in grad school in Knoxville, and I would come home to visit and stew over the scar being ripped into the landscape. Yes, I know the miners must feed their families, and the options are not all that plentiful in eastern KY. But, there had to be a better way. There still has to be a better way. In the late 80's I learned that land on many strip mines were not reclaimed after the mining was completed because it was cheaper to pay the fines than to reclaim the land. I don't know if this is still the case...I hope not. But, what I've always understood is the incredible beauty of this land. It's a quiet, rugged, introspective kind of beauty that may be evident only to those connected to the space. I don't know. I'm not sure how objectively I see it, or if the nostalgia of childhood memories cloud my thinking. And I'm not sure that really matters in the great scheme of things anyway.
NPR Story on our dependence on coal:
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