Lucy Kalian

Lucy Kalian’s title for her current body of work, ‘Witnesses’, refers not only to the thoughtful observer, but also to woodlands, trees, and their remains that have a deeper history than most of us walking the land today. They’ve witnessed humans’ yearning and urgency regarding the turmoil currently present throughout the world. The woods bear witness to a changing ecosystem and changing ‘human system’.

As a young girl, Lucy Kalian would wake early and go into the wooded valley between her home and a local farm where her favorite, fallen tree harbored her cherished pencils and paper. Kalian would spend hours wandering, drawing and writing. She awoke most days with a deep sense of yearning and urgency that had to be confronted. Not much has changed.  Kalian must confess that she no longer hides her pencils and paper in a tree.

“There is always a model that stands out when I am walking in the woods or meadows.  Sometimes it is a solitary tree; sometimes it is the interaction between two or more trees. I begin by staying true to the elements that initially attracted me. Sometime during the rendering process the tree takes over.  It seems to be existing within the paper and the job is mine to bring it to the surface. It may sound creepy, but it’s true. The tree is already there; my job is to make it visible to other viewers.”      Lucy Kalian