The Meadow John Clarke
JOHN CLARKE PHOTOGRAPHER / ARTIST INTERVIEW BY H. CANDEE
I am looking at a pastel on pigment print, The Meadow, (Sohn FA site) and I am curious to know if you listen to your inner voice; pay attention to what your instinctual feelings tell you to do when it comes to creating art? Many artists go by their skills and what is literally in front of them to work with. What goes on in your mind during the pre and post process? John Clarke: My art is very much instinctual. I do not start with a vision of what my images will look like when they’re completed. I may start with a conceptual idea, but that is not usually visual. Having said this, the voice I listen to is not just my own… The Meadow is part of an ongoing series I call The Bridge. It is a mixed-media piece that combines photography, abstract drawing, and music. Pieces from this series begin as long-exposure photographs, usually taken at dusk, when the low light allows for long exposures. While the shutter is open, I gently move the camera, a dance with the scene at hand. This softens the capture, gently blurring the image the way river water wears away the edges of stone. I print the photograph on Moab Entrada Rag paper, a beautiful thick matte paper that is perfect for drawing. Square pieces are printed 34 x 34”. Rectangles are typically 40 x 30” or larger. 16 •THE ARFUL MIND SEPTEMBER 2019
The next step takes some time. Abstract drawing for me is a response to music. I need to find the right music for each image. I work primarily to neo-classical composers like Arvo Part, Max Richter, Michael Nyman, and David Diamond. Once I have the music selected, then a second dance commences, a dance between me, the photographic print and the music. For most of the work in The Bridge series, I draw with chalk pastel and pencil. The music dictates the drawing and infuses my line with a lyrical quality. The dance is one of efficiency, balance and grace. Bouts of drawing are balanced with periods of reflection, making sure the overall effect is in harmony with the background image, the music, and the feeling this combination creates in me. Keeping the music consistent aids in keeping the work from straying too far afield. The same music casts the same spell, making it easier to work a piece over days and weeks. As far as the pre and post process, I enjoy work that has multiple, distinct stages. Shooting images is one step in the overall creation of this type of work, but it is also an end to itself, completely separate from any thought of drawing or music. The selection of music to work to is more personal, emotional, and can take many months. The studio work is again its own process, drawing off the photographic image, my life-
long pursuit of drawing, and my deep love for and response to music. How do you know what medium and when to use those choice materials you have to work with? John: I’m somewhat pragmatic when it comes to what medium to work in. I’m represented by Sohn Fine Art in Lenox, which is a photography gallery, so much of my visual work these days is at least photographically based. My love for abstract drawing and painting brings paint, pastel and pencil into the mix, but paint ripples paper unless the paper is mounted, so I only add paint to my photographic work if I’m mounting the print to wood. Chalk pastel and pencil respond best to the Moab Rag paper. Oil pastels leave a waxy line with little color, so I don’t tend to use them in my mixed media work. I’m preparing for a show at the Stockbridge Train Station that will open the weekend of October 19th, and for this show, I’m incorporating my writing into my mixed media work, using drafts of my short stories as the background images instead of long exposure photographs. These pieces will be on wooden panels, so I am free to use pencil, oil and chalk pastels and paint. How has your work over the past 5 to 10 years pro-
