Ian Boyden

Feathers Shed from a Meteor

Showing September 3 - October 2, 2010

The paintings in this exhibition, Feathers Shed from a Meteor, present Northwest artist, Ian Boyden’s exploration of the world of meteorites. Boyden delights in using eccentric pigments—from whale ear bones to fossilized shark teeth. In this new body of work, he introduces paints and inks made with hand ground pigments derived from meteorites. Boyden states, “I am fond of microcosms, and, look for ways of translating the voice or spirit of something very large or distant. Our solar system originally coalesced from a giant cloud of dust. I find a distinct pleasure in grinding these meteorites back into dust in preparation for making a painting. In a sense each painting becomes a small reenactment of that original coalescence.” Looking at the works as a whole there appears to be a cosmic dance. In these abstract works, we see the artist contemplating elemental origins, the calligraphic drift of asteroids, the gravity of molecular clouds, the residue of a great fireball, the mysteries opened by stones that have fallen from the sky.

Ian Boyden lives and works in Walla Walla, Washington. For nine years, he served as the director of the Sheehan Gallery, Whitman College, and is the founder and owner of Crab Quill Press, which is devoted to uniting calligraphy, poetry, printing, and translation. Boyden has studied calligraphy since he was a child and followed this passion through a master's degree at Yale University in Asian Art History.

Additional Works Available

thumbnail Habitations, 2007-08
Artist book of 18 paintings.
Poem by Sam Hamill. Maple cover.
11 unique editions.
31 x 11 x 1 inches.
Price on request

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