Giving Nature Her Due | Artists Community


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Heidi Jung recasts the glory of the botanical world with a compelling, modern 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 technique of her personal devising. The outcomes are a putting ode to botanicals.

Spike (sumi ink and charcoal on Mylar on panel, 48×36)

Jung retains nature shut at hand on the property of her house in Denver. Hotter climate reveals her ardour in essentially the most demonstrable method—with a yard backyard that’s as shocking as it’s lush. Small olive timber occupy the identical area as hostas, and summer season greens go together with creeping Jenny and uncommon lilies. Wisteria hangs in swish suspense on the surface 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 contemplate their peak; nonetheless, 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 wonder that feeds her work.

Rambling Rose (sumi ink and charcoal on Mylar on panel, 60×40)

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, in truth, essentially 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.

However, if a drawing reaches completion, it’s laid flat, initiating a two-week drying course of. Throughout this era, Jung will ultimately hold the practically dried work with the intention to view the place her subsequent steps may lead—and these subsequent steps are what contribute so closely to Jung’s modern method.

Beet (sumi ink, charcoal and pastel on Mylar on panel, 60×40)

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 stage. Grattage—the elimination or erasure of granulations—is one other method that comes into play, involving varied instruments or using water. The artist factors out that her actions across the ink should 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 charming repose. Offered in panel kind, the uncooked natural picture attracts within the viewer by way of its sheer familiarity. One thing so simple as a standard beet presents an alluring design.

From Earth to Inspiration

Those that know Jung know she’s susceptible to pulling uncommon weeds from public locations—the shoulder of a street, 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, targeted on botanicals for therefore lengthy, carries into her artwork seamlessly.

Jung nurtures this love in her city surroundings not simply by way of her personal gardening however by making frequent visits to the 23-acre Denver Botanic Gardens. She’ll usually take images on the property to function research. She admits she’s drawn to the unique crops of the tropics, their leaves by some means seeming somewhat prehistoric—a suggestion of how life on this planet has grown but additionally diminished.

Palo Verde (sumi ink, charcoal and pastel on Mylar on panel; 18×24)

Via 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 coach 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-after-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 Up to date, in Denver, and Bryant Avenue Gallery, in Palo Alto, Calif., characterize her work.

Study extra about Jung and think about movies of the artist at work at heidijung.com.

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