Unearthed

In order to preserve some scratchboard drawings I made in 2015 and 2016, this week I sent files of them off to be printed in a small experimental batch. I decided to print them as a set of postcards or small deck that I’ve named Unearthed.

Here’s the process that got me to this stage. For several years, I did not see the shape I wanted this project to take and went back and forth in my mind over various possibilities. By last year I had nearly abandoned my original idea of reproducing the drawings and linking them to a dream I’d had. However, because I liked the drawings I thought I’d have them framed instead. That plan was derailed when I saw that the prepared paper I’d used had film on it that was coming loose and threatening to destroy the images. The lesson that taught me was to learn about the construction of materials I’m using before running into problems with them! (I now plan on using actual ink coated boards for future drawings.)

Last week I wrote a poem to be included with the cards. Here’s the poem, plus several of the drawings.

Unearthed

What is it I have retrieved

from soil, from water and air

that burns to be recognized?

Parts of my small life?

Or nature that might

otherwise be lost

to time and destruction

by the carelessness and greed

of our kind?

These relics I hold to the light,

remembering days of beauty and pain

no longer fixed and immutable,

they shift and fly

with the ease of the hawks

soaring above the city’s forests in heat and cold,

in wind and stillness,

searching only for the opening of the heart.