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ARTS & LITERATURE 2022. Oil on canvas on panels, 21 x 28 inches. Courtesy of Kristin Leachman.
Longleaf pine bark
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker sap wells
Kristin Leachman — Longleaf Lines Kristin Leachman began the Fifty Forests project in 2010, documenting the self-organizing patterns in trees through paintings. By transcribing the unspoken language of trees’ structural integrity and biological resilience, she explores the intersection of painting and the natural world. Fifty Forests also reflects upon the relationship between humans and trees. Leachman’s paintings ask what is at stake as our country continually struggles to reconcile its connection to nature with its extractive use of natural resources? With plans to visit all 50 U.S. states, Leachman traveled to an old-growth longleaf pine forest in southwest Georgia in 2020 as part of the project. The results, Longleaf Lines (part two of the Fifty Forests project), will be on display at the Georgia Museum of Art at the University of Georgia from July 23, 2022, through February 5, 2023. More at georgiamuseum.org. About the Art Leachman says that because the majority of longleaf forests are in private hands, many may never have access to these hidden spaces. She uses art to offer people a physically immersive experience, bringing the sacred old-growth landscape into the museum, both for contemplation of and reflection on the natural history of Georgia. The paintings take a “zoomed in” perspective, enlarging the longleaf bark into monumentally scaled biomorphic abstractions. This project also examines the complex cultural issues around climate change,
The Longleaf Leader | Summer 2022
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colonialism, the local economy, and animism, the ancient belief that objects, places, and creatures all possess a distinct spiritual essence. Leachman’s pictures appear singed with fire, capturing the tree’s marvelously scaly and fire-resistant surface. This effect points to the destructive histories of these landscapes and the decline of longleaf pine forests. The scorched surfaces of Leachman’s pictures also correspond with the practice of regular burn cycles that prescribed burners now use to maintain the longleaf ecosystem. As both a ravaging and refining force, fire is a fitting metaphor for the revitalized forests of longleaf pine, which today rise phoenix-like from the ashes. About the Artist Born in Washington, D.C., Kristin Leachman spent her early years in Virginia and now lives in California. She earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in painting from the Rhode Island School of Design and a Master of Fine Arts in production design from the American Film Institute in Los Angeles. Her paintings have been presented in solo exhibitions at the National Museum of Women in the Arts (2008) and Laguna Art Museum (2016). Leachman’s work is in the collection at the National Gallery of Art, and an oral history interview with her is in the Smithsonian Archives of American Art. More at kristinleachman.com.
Volume XV - Issue 2
