Studios of Neptune
The Art and Photography
of
Samuel Howard Whitman
Large Woodburning Compositions
This is a technique of woodburning that is based in stippling. Different shaped attachments applied at varied angles can produce a surprising array of patterns. I was first exposed to this mode of woodburning over a decade ago and have invested a lot of time into further refining the actuation. At this large size, I have to let go of my obsession with my process being outside of the influence of the analytical mind because there is too much time span between start and finish to authentically stay that process oriented. As a result, this size includes intentional subject matter. There are about twenty of these large woodburning pieces.
The following two "Communication Space" pieces are expanded revisions of two small compositions from the "Coasters - Ink" page.
Communication Space Delta - 3ft square, Cedar
Communication Space Sigma - 3ft Square, Cedar
Description of Communication Spaces - The layers of complexity within just the simplest of communication cannot be understated. Words we use are imbued with meaning that can sometimes reach far beyond the intended present meaning. At times, perspectives held by neither party personally can be invoked. A new context for a conversation arrives through casual or even flippant use of words that only hold approximate meaning to what’s at hand because we do have common experiences. But those common experiences differ in context and personality and culture. In order to weave ourselves from the core of knowing into a true mutual understanding we must breach the fog that bears the tools for us to say anything to each other at all. So the span is bridged. Sometimes bridged from multiple points. The stability of the cocoon of cultural baggage and inside jokes between close friends serve similar functions in the eternity of ships cresting in the darkness. The undulating ocean of all the alternating spaces of communication blend, fracture and mend each moment as we will them.
Life in a Tree - 8ft x 5ft "canvas" with 4 4ftx2.5ft panels
reclaimed wood, aluminum, latex, silk backing
Description of Life in a Tree - This one took about 7 years to complete between inspiration and life events. It has been hung in a variety of places at different stages of completion including environmental protection offices, homes, interactive venues as well as a forest for a special invitation gathering. The colors in this piece reference ancient philosophies on the elemental makeup of reality as combinations of earth, air, water and fire held together by ether. It’s difficult to pinpoint the origin of this thinking but it was certainly present in Egypt, Greece and Macedonia. That said, this piece doesn’t describe an ancient way of thinking so much as it uses those concepts as a jumping point to describe a tree’s life experience visually. Ergo, what a tree might know.
Micro/Macro (Revision) - 32" x 22" each - acrylic on pine, cedar, and redwood
Micro/Macro (Initial)- 11"x15" each, 24"x57" with backing - on reclaimed wood
Description of Micro/Macro - When I was very young, I would occasionally drift into my imagination and conceive of infinitely large and infinitely small things rapidly in succession. After much time and thought, I have decided that I was reliving the experience of my own conception and development into a human - my first memory. The consciousness surrounding me and the journey did not itself have a functional understanding of linear time so I was therefore able to look backward and forward through my mother's entire pregnancy and experience it as a single moment to be remembered when I had achieved the human consciousness of a child. By the time I made it to puberty, the vast expanse to distant stars and the tiny world of insects and bacterium reflected the emotion again and connected me to the depth of what I am as a particle of the true infinite universe. In my adult age, the magic is not gone but perhaps harder to find. That's why art exists.
Pair - 5ft from a 90 degree corner in both directions x 4.5ft tall,
reclaimed wood, latex, aluminum
Description of Pair - I started this set wanting to describe the symmetry and balance between a strong female and male partnership. Their exact relationship to each other doesn’t matter much to me, just that their connection is strong. And in that strength of connection, we see clear similarities.
Moons over Mountains - 4'9"x19" - Woodburning and Acrylic on Cedar
This is a remake of an earlier piece called Snow Falling on Mountains (below). I have found that whenever I remake a composition, it changes as the particular nuance of each line requires a different set of shapes to compliment it. The metaphor here should be clear if not a bit cartoonish. I encourage you to look into each shape with what is in your own mind to find.
Snow Falling on Mountains - 3'10"x11"
Woodburning and Latex on Reclaimed Wood with Aluminum
