Drawing Wonder, Sligo 2019 for Project Anywhere
Project Anywhere is proudly supported as part of a partnership between the Centre of Visual Art (University of Melbourne) and Parsons Fine Art (Parsons School of Design, The New School). 'Drawing Wonder'supported by Sligo County Council.
Drawing Wonder, Dunmoran Strand, Sligo, Ireland June 2019, Chalk, algae powder mixed with seawater water on concrete structure.
The site of two large bulwarks were chosen because it provided a sense of wonder and it is also popular walking area. There is a 30 minute walk to reach the concrete bulwarks at the end of Dunmoran Strand which is surrounded by the Ox Mountains and farmlands‘Drawing Wonder II’ was drawn on the same day as ‘Drawing Wonder I’. The light green is algae is naturally formed. . This drawing is open and embedded in its environment and therefore calls attention to the site and surrounding area.
‘Drawing Wonder’ is one of nine successful projects selected for Project Anywhere’s highly competitive 2019/20 Global Exhibition Program. Project Anywhere is a global blind peer reviewed exhibition program dedicated to art and artistic research at the outermost limits of location-specificity. Project Anywhere is neither an online exhibition nor a journal. It is instead a vehicle for illuminating artistic projects located outside traditional exhibition circuits. Project Anywhere is perhaps best imagined as an exhibition comprising the entire globe in which the role of curator is replaced with a blind peer evaluation model.
The project titled Drawing Wonder: A phenomenological investigation into the Site Specific Drawing examines how site specific drawing has the capacity to create a sense of wonder in order to call attention to the ontological relationship between the subject [drawer and viewer] and the object [drawing] and the site. ‘Drawing Wonder’ is one of nine successful finalists for Project Anywhere’s highly competitive 2019/20 Global Exhibition Program. Project Anywhere is a global blind peer reviewed exhibition program dedicated to art and artistic research at the outermost limits of location-specificity. Kiera will present the Drawing Wonder project at the 4th biennial conference at Parsons Fine Art in November 2020 and following this biennial conference, contribute to the biennial book Anywhere IV.
This ongoing project titled Drawing Wonder: A phenomenological investigation into the Site Specific Drawing examines how site specific drawing has the capacity to create a sense of wonder in order to call attention to the ontological relationship between the subject [drawer and viewer] and the object [drawing] and the site. To awaken a deep sense of wonder in the viewer, the drawer must first be filled with wonder and be empathetic to the lived experience of the site (Merleau-Ponty, 2005; van Manen 2014).Therefore, there were no preparatory drawings on any of the four drawing days. Rather, after observing the site and sensing the environment until a bodily experience called my attention, I began drawing directly onto the surface of the site while continuing to being open and receptive to the phenomena of the drawing material, the surface, the site and walkers. By taking this phenomenological attitude in wonder, the drawings became a device for perceiving and understanding aspects of the site as it appeared.
Documentation of the drawings after 24 hours. The sea washed part of the algae to reveal ghost lines of the chalk drawings.