Fugues

My Dad was a composer. As a kid I used to hang around his neck as he sat at his desk writing out his scores. He carried his compositions in his head until he was ready to set them to paper, at which point he would write down his music as I might write a letter. I was grown when one day, hanging over his shoulder as he prepared his manuscript paper, I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw how he used his ruler to divide the sheet into several equal columns. So swift and so elegant! And so late in the game for me to appreciate his craftsmanship. His scores were beautiful. How many things I could have asked but didn't, like the young knucklehead Perceval.

When my Dad passed on he left behind a stash of manuscript paper. Since I am not a composer, I saw a challenge to use this paper in a different, visual way. One of the solutions I found was to cut, weave and fit strips together, inspiring me to call this collection "Fugues", after the German meaning "fitted together." All I Ask Is a Tall Ship and Cathedral Town are 100% woven, modified with ink or graphite shading. The drawings on Aztec* green manuscript paper were started by brushing fluid gestures in sumi ink, then working back into them with colored pencils, graphite and ink. Totem, Germinal and Fugue in Gold are all variations on this theme.

*Aztec refers to the brand name of this music manuscript paper.