The Salina Township Series Volume 1 2004—2010 - C. Shoup
“I grew up in Salina Township, Illinois. Specifically in Bonfield, a small town surrounded by farm fields. As a boy I was drawn to the exploration and study of the outlying wood patches, ditches, creeks and the town’s abandoned stone quarries (all while being a disinterested learner inside the grade school’s brick walls). After high school I grew wings and flew to Chicago. There I studied art and cultural diversity. Seven years later I returned to Salina Township, and what did I find? “Nothing was as I left it. I had new eyes. I grabbed my camera and began to capture important organic structures and the terribly important colors strewn everywhere in my native landscape, and I pursued different ways of presenting what I found. “This series contains my first six years worth of exploration as an ecologist and artist.”
Bonfield stone quarries; Salina Township road; 2nd bridge ditch; Horse Creek
2004
Corn #1 16” x 24” (2004) Collection of Dave and Sue St. Germaine
2004
Corn #2 16” x 24” (2004)
2004
Corn #3 16” x 24” (2004)
2004
Salina Storybook 16” x 36” (2004) Collection of Todd and Jackie Snedecor
2004
Seven Lines of Salina Township 16” x 36” (2004) Collection of Jacob Joubert
2004
Ode to my Father 16” x 36” (2004)
2005
Guthrie’s Vision—skewed 8” x 12” (2005)
2005
In the absence of sound; sound 16” x 28” (2005)
2006
Stones 16” x 24” (2006) Collection of John Shoup
2006
Approaching Bridge Out Left panel of 3 “book frames” stitched together with leather cord. 10” x 22” (2006)
2006
Bridge Out Middle panel of 3 “book frames” stitched together with leather cord. 10” x 22” (2006)
2006
Burnt House Right panel of 3 “book frames” stitched together with leather cord. 10” x 22” (2006)
Diary of Salina Township; 11.8.2006 “I took a day off work (from teaching inner city 5th graders) and traveled with my camera bag, coffee, some apples and 12 roles of film to Salina Township. My intention was to drive the square miles and photograph all day. The earliest photo I took is mounted in the upper left corner of the frame. “I wandered about the township for the rest of the morning, the afternoon and the evening. I would stop, explore and photograph. It was a fantastic day. “My very last photo at dusk is in the frame’s lower right corner. “One photographic part at a time was selected (from over 250 choices) and cut for a slide mount. Each mount was riveted with four grommets. I did this between January and February, 2007. In March I designed the frame. In April I sewed 112 slides mount into place. I finished in May. All together it took over 120 hours. It was a response to Amanda questioning me if I was ever going to create something I couldn’t finish in one night.”
Diary of Salina Township; 11.8.2006 27� x 42� (109) 35mm photographs; hand-colored slide mounts; metal grommets; waxed cotton string; Salina Township sand, grass seeds, Native American arrowhead; masonite; solid oak frame
2009
Purple Asters, Rock Pile 16” x 24” (2009) Collection of Vickie Romein
2009
Sun Spots; Bridge 16” x 24” (2009)
2010 “This painting is about a memory. “Several of us would tramp about the wet, marshy sumps where the woods held water, searching for things that would not bite or sting us. At the height of summer, the heat would concentrate in the brackish molecular stew. Decayed leaves would disintegrated with every step, sending upward mushroom plumes of particles that turned the water brown while our feet sank into the silt. “I had a habit of looking through the canopy to take quick glances at the sun, because I liked the way effervescent sunspots would appear when my salty eyebrow sweat mixed with my vision.”
Sun Spots; Swamp Oak; Cattails 24� x 24� (2010) Oil and acrylic on oak panel; recycled kitchen countertop sample tabs; walnut frame
2010
Rock Pile/Purple Asters 24” x 24” (2010) Available through www.gallery180.com
View from a Grain Bin 24” x 24” (2010)
2010
2nd Bridge Ditch 24” x 24” (2010)
Horse Creek, November 24” x 24” (2010)
2010
Fields 24” x 24” (2010)
Bonfield Stone Quarries 24” x 24” (2010)