The work in the exhibition Weeds,
Rocks, and Rails was inspired initially by Weeds - the plants that determinedly put themselves where they chose to be. And where they thrive. The paintings, prints, and drawings grew from observations of pokeweed, snakeroot, Joe Pyeweed, digitalis and mullein that snuggle in and carry on next to rock outcroppings and alongside roadways.
Along came the newest park in New York: the Highline. There the visionaries who triumphed in creating the elevated walking park between 20th and Gansevoort Streets along 10th Avenue originally found an abundant spectrum of plants or weeds. These had settled in early on alongside the abandoned railroad tracks.
The designers kept wildness in mind when they eventually re-planted the park using relatives of many of these early botanical squatters.
This thread of wildness has inspired my strokes, marks, dabs and smudges to join in the dance of Nature's abandon, adaptation, goings-to-seed, and persistent propagation.
Josie Merck, 2010
Along came the newest park in New York: the Highline. There the visionaries who triumphed in creating the elevated walking park between 20th and Gansevoort Streets along 10th Avenue originally found an abundant spectrum of plants or weeds. These had settled in early on alongside the abandoned railroad tracks.
The designers kept wildness in mind when they eventually re-planted the park using relatives of many of these early botanical squatters.
This thread of wildness has inspired my strokes, marks, dabs and smudges to join in the dance of Nature's abandon, adaptation, goings-to-seed, and persistent propagation.
Josie Merck, 2010