jennyarntzen.art

  Pencil crayon, pen and ink, acrylic ink on paper, 6 1/2" x 5" Last night I decided to stay home and work on my drawing instead of going out to take part in an evening with the Vancouver Folk Song Society.  It was hard to make the choice, because both of these activities are my contribution to the antidote for authoritarianism and feel equally important.  I had a key pattern in progress and I was ready to put the third, final layer of lines, colour and washes. I was curious to see how it would turn out and that is where I put my energy. In his book, "Celtic art: The methods of construction", George Bain has a chapter on Key Patterns. I have added information from his book to give background about the meaning and significance of key pattern design. Some Chinese key patterns belong to periods prior to BC 1,000. In the British Museum there is an Egyptian carving showing a key pattern and interlacing dating BC 3500 - BC 3000. Square and diagonal key patterns engraved o...

  Graphite, acrylic ink on paper - 9" x 6" (in progress) I am thinking about structure and flow. The structure of Celtic key patterns, step patterns and knot designs. The flow of ink and water. Systems of organization, properties of absorption. Humanity is in a state of catastrophic, rolling system collapse.  Climate change is part of the story. Changes in weather patterns, rainfall, wind force and temperature fluctuations have created climate emergencies around the world. We are needing to adapt to flooding, extreme drought and heat domes, wildfires, extraordinary strong hurricanes, unpredictable freezing temperatures and unprecedented high temperatures.  Humanity is the other part of the story. Since our adoption of agriculture, we have been unable to create peaceful, self-sustaining, egalitarian social systems. We have had high population growth and technological advancement without commensurate development and evolution of caring, equitable and just social systems. Po...

  I learned a new word last night at Drawing Together - horror vacui, or kenophobia - refers to a phenomenon in which the entire surface of a space or artwork is filled with detail and content, leaving no empty space https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horror_vacui_(art) . The underlying philosophical principle is based on the idea that 'nature abors a vacuum'. Thus, empty space in a drawing or a manuscript goes against nature.  Alison was reminded of horror vacui when I showed the drawing I had been working on - an early exploration in using a circular frame for working up a step pattern.  There were four of us last evening drawing at the dining table. We each had our own sources of inspiration for our drawing projects: medieval art, pet bunnies, scenes from a movie, and celtic design.  We listened to a powerful recording of Alexandra Olasavsky's song, 'What Happens When a Woman' has power. I had heard a rendition the night before at Vancouver Folk Song Society evening c...

  Pen and ink, ink wash on paper - 5 1/2" x 5 1/2" The last time I worked with Celtic knots I was extricating myself from an abusive domestic situation. I was ending an eighteen year marriage to an emotionally abusive husband. I have been triggered by the current situation in the US and global geopolitics, especially Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Ukraine’s fight for sovereignty. Puzzling out the Celtic knot and step patterns helps me transcend a state of traumatic brain injury and shift my creative problem solving back into recovering the agency, autonomy and empowerment I possess. The step pattern provides structure and infinite variation in expression. The basic structure of the step pattern is a grid subdivided by a pre-determined number. In the case of this drawing, I was experimenting with the grid subdivided into increments of five. This resulted in the step pattern based on five shapes. In this drawing the grid has been laid out by hand. There is an organic variance...