Long Distance Drawing

2022

ink, gesso, acrylic paint on paper mounted on board

12x16 inches

Long Distance Drawing evolved out of necessity and builds on the Wayfinding series.

Thanks to MCLA's Care Syllabus for sparking this work. Over the past six years, running for fitness slowly became an impossibility. And then, walking became a challenge. I needed to find another way to use time and repetition in meditation, to create spaces of ease within my life, because that is what running was to me. Sure, sometimes running was hard. But the mantra “the only thing harder than running is not running” guided me pretty much throughout my late 20’s, 30’s and early 40’s. Merlin Coverley introduced me to the idea of “imaginary walks” in his book “The Art of Wandering: The Writer as Walker.” I loved learning about the walks that Xavier de Maistre, John Finley, and Albert Speer completed in their rooms, while incarcerated, or in other contained places. I began walking a mile in my kitchen, and through our bedrooms. Pictured here is the drawing “Walking A Mile in my Kitchen”. I’ve made a stop-motion animation that follows this path that you can see on the Care Syllabus website. There are two versions of the “walk”. One that’s faster than the world-record for the mile, and one that’s a little slower. I encourage you to look.