Works on Paper > Trace Elements
Amanda Lechner’s ink paintings and associated work were made in conversation with well-used objects, special mementos and personal reflections housed in the BMCF collections. The ink paintings are made using handmade ink made from locally collected walnuts, oak gall and collected oxidized iron. These works respond to close-looking at scrapbooks, diaries, clothing, household tools and photographs while also reflecting on the deep geological history of SW Virginia. Referenced objects and ephemera from the BMCF collection and the Virginia Tech Geoscience Museum are included in the exhibition. The artworks and archive material further dialog with mineral and fossil specimens collected in the region. The result is a choronostratigraphic amassment of image, object and subject that criss-cross era and epoch.
Amanda’s work presented in the exhibit responds to the unseen, forgotten, personal yet largely unknowable. Objects that have little namable social relevance, yet provide clues to the desires, tastes and tactilities of their original possessors. Some objects have historic value as part of local history while others are saved purely for their cherished status. The original owners/makers of these objects and materials themselves have become part of the history of blacksburg and have directly and indirectly influenced the geology of the land. Their objects and geologic specimens created over thousands or millions of years are placed physically side-by-side in the exhibition and visually interpreted in Lechner’s ink works. These objects and the little information they carry are displayed alongside the artworks in an sub-didactic and poetic conversation.
Amanda’s work presented in the exhibit responds to the unseen, forgotten, personal yet largely unknowable. Objects that have little namable social relevance, yet provide clues to the desires, tastes and tactilities of their original possessors. Some objects have historic value as part of local history while others are saved purely for their cherished status. The original owners/makers of these objects and materials themselves have become part of the history of blacksburg and have directly and indirectly influenced the geology of the land. Their objects and geologic specimens created over thousands or millions of years are placed physically side-by-side in the exhibition and visually interpreted in Lechner’s ink works. These objects and the little information they carry are displayed alongside the artworks in an sub-didactic and poetic conversation.
Trace Elements
4 billion years 24060
2022
handmade walnut and oak gall ink on paper
48x109"
2022
handmade walnut and oak gall ink on paper
48x109"
unremembered touch
2022
handmade walnut and oak gall ink on paper
48x90"
2022
handmade walnut and oak gall ink on paper
48x90"
