• observisualize •
observe >>>>> visualize
it’s a portmanteau, although smooshing the words together unfairly ignores the juicy process. A lot happens between my observations and visualizations - I think, research, remember, feel, sketch, ideate, test, evaluate, think. Did I say think?
I think of my artwork as diagrams.
I find great beauty in the enormous complexity contained within that which appears simple. I’m most comfortable in a realm of abstraction; blending images, symbols, and shapes. Each representational choice emphasizes the nature of the elements and their relationships. Diagramming is an art form to me, far beyond a technical term, because simplicity requires a deliberate sacrifice of detail in order to reveal the core, the essence, the fundamental truth.
sketchbooks
I’ve been drawing one diagram a day since January 1, 2011. I began as a way to keep my mind sharp, and to try to make sense of the world. It's changed how I perceive, process, and think, and in general how I experience life. Have I missed days? Yes — often I catch up, and sometimes I capture the lapsed time in a single diagram to remember what was happening then.
[ flip through my sketchbooks ]
sculptures
Sculptures are a more recent evolution of my diagram drawings into four-dimensional space, including time. They are interactive and kinetic, like moments of experience gently suspended in time. I call the series ‘Holding Space’, which simply refers to a state of presence and awareness without judgment. I’m creating a sense of “space” through orientation of elements and a sense of “holding” through subtle movement.
[ see my kinetic sculptures ]
mixed media
Sometimes I need more than one mode of expression to capture what I am thinking and feeling … you’re welcome to wander these places too:
[ the river: visual narrative ]
[ caverns: a colorful inner realm ]
[ a wind phone ]
on abstraction, analogy, diagrams
(a slideshow)
I've always kept an active sketchbook, starting when I was very little. My parents and I would go places and draw together. Over the years, these pages have contained drawings of the world around me, ideas, doodles, school projects, collages, etc.
Growing up, I loved looking through art books and going to museums. I was especially drawn to abstraction and surrealism, which I emulated in my own drawings.
These are some surreal / abstract drawings from around age 9, when my aunt and uncle sent me a huge box of prismacolor markers.
In my own artwork, such as these drawings from a life drawing class, I would quickly move towards abstraction regardless of medium, style, or instructions.
I draw a diagram every day to keep my mind sharp and to try to make sense of the world. I started this experiment on 01.01.2011. I first learned about diagrams in college. A few years after graduation, I I realized I needed to keep the spark lit in my creative conceptual brain. It's changed how I see creativity and how I experience life.
This is now how I learn & process information, analyze myself and the world around me, and develop insight & clarity.
I was introduced to diagramming in architecture school at NCSU College of Design - formative diagrams that start with the essence of an idea and generate solutions, and analytical diagrams that reduce something existing to its essence.
A few reasons to use diagrams (there are many).
A few types of diagrams (there are many).
(some types of diagrams specific to architecture)
The graphic representation is also important. I’ve developed my own visual language for my own personal (artistic) diagrams, but when I create them for others I think differently about how the content is communicated. As a side note, I really don't like the color red in any other context than my diagrams. And cardinals.
These are a few considerations to keep in mind when developing diagrams. While diagrams have some degree of abstraction by definition, the more abstract the more text or explanation becomes necessary to communication the idea successfully.
![[ analogy: understanding one idea in terms of another ]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5974db61e45a7cc661b0b7bf/5d711757-f215-48f3-a4e2-4d979e00775f/def-analogy.jpeg)
[ analogy: understanding one idea in terms of another ]
Analogy is thought to be the core of cognition, and involves a process of mapping information or meaning from a familiar source onto a new or less familiar target. We do this so naturally that we don’t even realize it.
![[ abstraction: a process where general rules and concepts are derived from the use and classifying of specific examples ]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5974db61e45a7cc661b0b7bf/7a9473b5-1ff9-4e38-a3e3-0ff929b301bf/def-abstraction.jpeg)
[ abstraction: a process where general rules and concepts are derived from the use and classifying of specific examples ]