Works

Approaching a commission like this I generally set out to make at least two versions of the works. This way I have the freedom to try something new and give the client some kind of option. But really it’s so I can have some fun with new processes and use them to get across the storytelling ideas.

I was trying to use book pages from “The Art of Happiness” and the 1998 WSJ Almanac, both of which fit the story in a different way. In the end this didn’t fit aesthetically but I still love them.

Wisconsin

Leaving for Fish Creek Wisconsin was kinda tough. I haven’t been away from home for an extended period and I was already missing everyone. But here we go on the 17hr 1100 mile drive. That’s like more than two days in a row of driving from NC to NYC. 

When I got into WV it started snowing, a lot, but the roads were fine and I felt like I was in the book I was listening to: The Martian. Driving cross world in my packed up rover. I saw some alien things too, like a sunset that looked like a portal to Mars, and renewable energy. After the snow I switched to Carl Sagan’s Contact audiobook, which is amazing.

double exposures on the drive

it snowed and then this portal?

ohio

I forgot I’d gain an hour driving. And the most beautiful studio

Milwaukee and More Travels

Made a couple visits to “the big city” Milwaukee and made me love the Midwest even more. The art museum is so good. I don’t know what else to say, I want to go back to it and spend 2 more days wandering. We went to a few other galleries, saw some old friends and met some new old friends. Randomly met the resident artist at Saint Kate Hotel, Megan Woodard Johnson who is best friends with one of my best friends and how do I know people here? And another friend from Raleigh – McKenzie Van Oss – who I’ve photographed with through my time with Carolina Ballet. She took us to Three Brothers, a homey Serbian restaurant that really felt like home.

It was cold, maybe

Ok I did wear 3 layers everyday and a long, warm, pillowy coat. And a fur hat. And gloves. But I knew that was going to be the weather. What surprised me was the wet cold vs the dry cold. Nine degrees in humid North Carolina is a whole different kind of cold vs the zero humidity Fish Creek, WI. So much of this place felt alien and peaceful to me. I loved it.

I stayed at this cottage for a week during the residency – my favorite cottage – and Elizabeth was a wonderful guide and friend. The first big snow happened when I was staying there and it felt so magical.

cave point full moon

the deer at my favorite cottage

Books and the First Idea

My initial idea centered around book pages and the built in memory used books brought. I thought asking for books would be a good way to get into the community. As well as find some interesting stories and let the randomness of the books help guide the works. I was really excited about this, I would use the book pages as transfer recipients and then manipulate them with water. It was easy to get excited about the ideas.

With some help I was able to acquire quite a few books. Including this wild Board of Directors Minutes from the First National Bank of Waupaca, Wisconsin. Somehow I was able to convince Megan Woodard Johnson to let me have one of the volumes the bank let her have. Its beautiful. I think I asked if there was an entry from some of my significant dates. And then got the whole book, thank you!

I brought some books like the physics book (below) and the calculus book (above) as test pages. It was wild to me how different the pages reacted with the pigments.

June 25, 1959

look at that cover

this physics book

this poetry book

And so I made a lot of tests with some fun results. Some not so fun but heres some selects.

front and back

colors on different test papers

nausicaa paper tests

black pigment only

using water to manipulate the image

piecing together a larger image

book tests

le rouge et le noir

the largest work I made in Wi

My Favorite Book

I knew I was going to use the pages from one of my favorite books: Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind. It’s a special book a couple of my friends gave me at my mom’s service but didnt read until 3 years later. I really needed it then.

This is the Japanese version, something I thought would work well, as to not detract with words you [english speakers] could read, but keep the beautiful pages and drawings.

I like the idea of a work becoming something different at different focal lengths. How everything blurs the farther away you are vs the page details when up close.

finished on wall

New Materials and New Tests

It was easy to see how the books worked and as easy to see how far they were from being a full process. I forget how this cycle happens: going 0-90% then having the final 10% fail at any number of things. For this I couldn’t get the book paper to be consistent. Meaning every book and every paper, would be like starting over. Also, the works were too dependent on the photograph. I wanted to build a process that was the message and story of the work. I got inspired by a Taiwanese artist – Wu Chi-Tsung – and how his cyano collages felt. So I bought a stack of xuan paper (a japanese calligraphy paper) to see how my processes would work with it.

The beginning parts are always fun. No expectations, throwing every idea you can, getting excited at possibilities. I want to hold that feeling more often when I work, even when it’s not a beginning.

The xuan paper is super thin but durable and took pigments really well. So I used it as a transfer material and used what I had in abundance to transfer it: snow. But also use some of the other techniques I’ve used in the past.

ok thats me not the artwork, photo by xomestudio.com

xuan paper tests

xuan snow transfer

left in process, right after transfer

xuan over book pages

xuan transfer, one of my favorites

xuan transfer tests with dripping pigemnt

studio wall halfway through

I wasn’t too excited about any of these but I felt like I couldn’t take them down until after our visiting curator visit. Tanya saw my work immediately and we had a great conversation about memory and grief work. That felt really nice and helped push me in the right direction to try even more things.

the rest of my studio at that time

Putting it all together

Well it was the final week and I hadn’t been excited about much of what I was making. It was yet another low moment during the cycle of: being excited and can do anything – to ok none of this is going to work. But it was inspiring to share a studio with Donte. His work ethic, excitement, knowledge and encouragement was infectious. Was wonderful to have him there.

So I had to try and have some fun. I brought out the 24in x 100ft roll of metallic gold photo paper (from my stash of all the gold photo paper left on the planet). Immediately the same process changed visually so much just by changing out the paper.

This finally felt legit. I spent the next week using the entire 100ft roll of paper. A full step by step about this process is here: https://newtim.com/2025/04/09/2025-residency-at-penart-part-2-new-process/

Sometimes it takes a full residency and a few failed cycles to get through the r&d section of a process. It helps being in a place that doesn’t add to the pressure. I really loved Wisconsin and PenArt and the staff. Definitely want to go back and already have been once!

6x6ft bear

at the open studio