Heidi Jung recasts the glory of the botanical world with a compelling, progressive use of sumi ink and charcoal on Mylar.
For these artists who really feel pushed to depict the splendor of the plant kingdom, the fractals of nature are an alluring and infinite supply of inspiration. Colorado native Heidi Jung brings these patterns into her artwork with a way of her personal devising. The outcomes are a placing ode to botanicals.
Jung retains nature shut at hand on the property of her house in Denver. Hotter climate reveals her ardour in probably the most demonstrable manner—with a yard backyard that’s as stunning as it’s lush. Small olive bushes occupy the identical house as hostas, and summer season greens go along with creeping Jenny and uncommon lilies. Wisteria hangs in sleek suspense on the skin of her small studio, which boasts a storage door with glass panels. Nature is all the time inside Jung’s view.
The botanical fashions she makes use of are sometimes lifeless and dried, far previous what most individuals would think about their peak; nevertheless, the small print of a plant are laid naked by the hands of this artist. The construction and type of her specimens inform a narrative of life that’s nearer to declining than thriving, however inside these natural relics, Jung finds the sweetness that feeds her work.
Add and Subtract
Utilizing a Chinese language calligraphy brush to use sumi ink to a sheet of Mylar, Jung attracts her topic in pure silhouette. What might appear to be a easy, routine starting of the artist’s course of is, the truth is, probably the most arduous stage as she strives for a extremely correct depiction. “If a drawing doesn’t make the lower, it turns into a ‘carcass,’ ” she says, gesturing to the nook storage in her studio that boasts a stack of Mylar stained with sumi ink.
Alternatively, if a drawing reaches completion, it’s laid flat, initiating a two-week drying course of. Throughout this era, Jung will finally cling the practically dried work so as to view the place her subsequent steps would possibly lead—and these subsequent steps are what contribute so closely to Jung’s progressive strategy.
As soon as a drawing has dried, the artist makes use of sandpaper to mix the ink into the Mylar and to misery the ink, creating what she calls a “halo impact” across the form of the plant. Jung additionally begins making use of charcoal at this stage, defining the type of the plant at a deeper degree. Grattage—the elimination or erasure of granulations—is one other method that comes into play, involving numerous instruments or using water. The artist factors out that her actions across the ink have to be calculated, particularly once they contain water, because it has an aggressive energy to strip away items of the composition—however when the candy spot is achieved, a completed work by Heidi Jung hangs in fascinating repose. Offered in panel kind, the uncooked natural picture attracts within the viewer by its sheer familiarity. One thing so simple as a typical beet presents an alluring design.
From Earth to Inspiration
Those that know Jung know she’s liable to pulling uncommon weeds from public locations—the shoulder of a highway, for instance—if solely to transplant them onto her personal property. She does it to witness a development cycle, which permits her to see extra phases of the plant. Her consideration to element, centered on botanicals for therefore lengthy, carries into her artwork seamlessly.
Jung nurtures this love in her city surroundings not simply by her personal gardening however by making frequent visits to the 23-acre Denver Botanic Gardens. She’ll typically take photographs on the property to function research. She admits she’s drawn to the unique crops of the tropics, their leaves by some means seeming a little bit prehistoric—a suggestion of how life on this planet has grown but in addition diminished.
By way of vocational analysis enhanced by a lifelong ardour for flora, Jung is simply too conscious of the delicate nature of her topics. By celebrating the natural shapes and textures this earth has to supply, the artist seeks to teach viewers on what they is likely to be overlooking and to take that consciousness into the world in order that they could see it higher. “The earth is dying,” she says, “we lose items of it day by day.” In her drawings, a few of these items are preserved and cherished.
In regards to the Creator
Jenn Rein (jennrein.com) Jenn Rein is a author and editor who covers artwork, design, structure and way of life. She makes her house in Teton Valley, Id., nestled within the wild of the Rocky Mountain West.
In regards to the Artist
Heidi Jung started her college-level arts schooling with an emphasis on images earlier than switching to drawing. She holds a BFA diploma from Metropolitan State College of Denver. Her drawings are broadly exhibited within the Southwestern U.S. Michael Warren Modern, in Denver, and Bryant Road Gallery, in Palo Alto, Calif., symbolize her work.
Study extra about Jung and examine movies of the artist at work at heidijung.com.