words + pictures from the studio of Joan Colbert
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When your bouquet matches your art . . .
photo by James Ainscough
This is my favorite image of Herbal Roulette, taken on Scott and Celeste’s wedding day. Disclaimer: no poisonous members of the apiaceae family are present, but the lavender is definitely an interloper.
Formerly known as the Akron Art Prize, the High Arts Festival has more changes than just its name. This year the event features music and film along with visual art. Visit the High Arts Festival site for information on hours, venues and voting – and, of course, please stop by Summit Artspace and consider a vote for my entry, Herbal Roulette!
Tags: high arts festival
Breezy (but not raining) at Northside Street Gallery! Artwalk tonight, 5 – 9 p.m. I’ll be at my Summit Artspace studio – do stop by and say hi. Many thanks to Kevin Richards for the invitation and assistance.
At Summit Artspace the monthly artwalk is an indoor event, but in the Northside area artists have expanded into the urban outdoors. There are pop-up artists in the parking lot and, along the sidewalk, the Northside Street Gallery hosting a featured artist each month – my spot for August. The street installations should be somewhat impervious to the weather, so I needed to think beyond works on paper. For this project I wanted to combine several ideas and processes that I’ve been considering for months: carving a woodcut with the Dremel on the pear tree slice, printing on fabric using relief blocks along with the usual silk screen and, finally, giving the recently acquired serger an official test drive. The outcome is a series of pennants to be strung from trees and light poles. I’m happy with the results and am already considering similar projects and uses.
This serger originally belonged to Connie Bloom, a fiber artist and friend, who died last fall. I hope she’s not too judgmental on my skills.
Tags: printmaking, relief print, serger, silkscreen
There seems to be no limit to uses for a large pear tree ‘cookie.’ This slice was salvaged from the base of a Bradford Pear that was removed a few years ago. Last year I used it as the matrix for a monotype a la Hundertwasser:
This year I carved a design into it with a Dremel and printed the woodcut on fabric for use in an upcoming project.
Herbal Roulette
relief print
“Amateurs fooling with plants in the parsley family are playing herbal roulette.” Steven Foster and James A. Duke, A Field Guide to Medicinal Plants
The sprawling Apiaceae family of plants inspires a recent addition to the As Potent as a Charm series of poisonous botanicals, Herbal Roulette. Although commonly known as the parsley or carrot family, relatives include poison hemlock and other miscreants, leading one botanist to refer to fooling with plants in this family as playing “herbal roulette.”
Apiaceae (or Umbelliferae), commonly known as the parsley family of plants, is the sixteenth largest family of flowering plants, containing 3700 species. Members include both culinary favorites and infamous poisons.
from top, clockwise beginning at Socrates’ goblet:
Hemlock Conium maculatum ☠
Rattlesnake Master Eryngium yuccifolium
Parsley Petroselenum crispum
Water Hemlock Cicuta maculata ☠
Coriander, Cilantro Coriadrum sativum
Black Sanicle, Snakeroot Sanicula marilandica
Fool’s Parsley Aethursa cynapium ☠
Celery Apium graveolens
Carrot Daucus carota
Cow Parsnip Heracleum lanatum ☠
Queen Anne’s Lace Daucus carota
Angelica Angelica atropurpurea
detail views including the ‘corner crows’
Look for Herbal Roulette in Akron’s upcoming High Arts Festival.
The circle of herbs has been cut for weeks, but there’s one slight hold-up. Actually, not one, but four, as in four corners, one per block and, realistically, it’s not been a slight hold-up either. Normally I would have an idea of the overall design of a piece before I even start carving. This time I focused on the circular portion and, for a brief time, considered stopping with the round layout. Apparently I wasn’t really committed to a parsley family mandala, hence the four blocks sat in the studio waiting. And then along came the corner crows, ready to preside over what is now officially titled Herbal Roulette!
Tags: apiaceae, as potent as a charm, crow, crows, hemlock, herbal roulette, linocut, parsley family, printmaking, umbelliferae
So far, so good, but still decisions to make. Herbal Roulette.
Tags: apiaceae, as potent as a charm, herbal roulette, linocut, linoleum block, parsley family, relief print, umbelliferae
Pleased to be included in 52 Weeks 52 Works, the Academy Graphic Communications calendar – for information on their range of design and print services visit visitag.com
Hemlock, Conium maculatum, and several of its nefarious relatives, are members of the Apiaceae (or Umbelliferae) family of plants, commonly called the parsley or carrot family. This is a large family of more than 3700 plants and deciding how to represent it in the As Potent as a Charm series has been a bit overwhelming at times. Inspiration arrived in a remark in a Peterson Field Guide, Easten/Central Medicinal Plants by Steven Foster and James A. Duke. In describing Golden Alexanders (also among the Apiaceaes), the author stated, “Amateurs fooling with plants in the parsley family are playing herbal roulette.” Aha! A wheel it is! This time the format will be circular, rather than the narrow rectangle of previous prints. A dozen sketches have been chosen, four of which are poisonous; further decisions are pending, but soon the fun will begin!
Tags: apiaceae, as potent as a charm, hemlock, linocut, linoleum block, poison, relief print, umbelliferae
