THE FOCUS

Rachel Bubis: You say in your statement, “I am endlessly interested in the idea of a place as a thing and a thing as a place.” Could you elaborate? Erin Harmon: I’m interested in the object-ness of landscape. Often when one thinks of landscape painting you’re thinking of a scene to be looked AT, when really we are in the landscape all the time. I’m curious about how bits of nature held in a hand can imply landscape...

"Seemingly disconnected, the work runs side by side like a network of logical associations and relationships, as well as a meshwork of entangled lines that move and grow. Recognizable objects that take up room are familiar and accessible. These things start to connect the area they occupy to the physical documentation of my spaces. With close investigations and observations of environments, I respond to cues with judgment and precision, describing them in sculptures, installations, and works on paper." —...

Rachel Bubis: You collect pigments from nature and make your paint. What’s the most interesting or surprising thing you’ve learned about this process? Amanda Brazier: Using earth pigments to create is an ancient practice. With paint making, I’m learning the basics of my trade, fundamentals that have fallen mostly into the background of art education and practice. Before and during the Renaissance, artists (or their apprentices) would have to grind their own rocks and crush dried insects to mak...