Recently, Handsome Husband and I stood slack-jawed before the large charcoal drawings of Marlene Mueller, Wayne State College Art Professor. Beautiful in their terrifying depiction of death by fire of an old farm building, these drawings had us mesmerized, so much so that a month after we first saw them at the Norfolk Arts Center in Norfolk, Ne., we're still talking about them.
©2008 Marlene Mueller Apocalypse 32x44 Charcoal
"Into the Ashes" is a visual record of Mueller’s experience as a volunteer firefighter. Rather than glamorize the heroic efforts of men and women in the act of saving, she uses charcoal to render stinging smoke, crackling heat and the hissing of evaporating water as flames eat a structure down to its ashes.
©2008 Marlene Mueller Cumulus 32x44 Charcoal
These drawings are beautiful. Charcoal, a remnant of the burning process, is used here to create moments of power and grace, the balance between what fire and water will do to, and for, each other.
©2007 Marlene Mueller Roar 44x32 Charcoal
©2007 Marlene Mueller Simmer 32x44 Charcoal
My knee-jerk reaction to defining beauty would most likely include rich color, a calming sense of rhythm or texture, a perception of atmosphere to be breathed in deeply. In a daring mood maybe I would include tension, asymmetry, maybe even dissonance if carried out in a harmonious way. Something to hang above my couch and make me feel good.
Mueller has done what all proper artists should do. She has called us to look more closely, to consider more consciously the world around us. Not just the lovely, the soft or precious, but every aspect of the cycle of what exists, or ceases to exist.
6 comments:
i LOVE how you call to see more :) !
From one traveler to another, Soozie. My eyes, your pen.
wow what great moving images and in charcoal no less...Great. Daniel
Absolutely amazing!
This is an exciting post Patty; it calls our attention to the beauty inherent even in disaster. It makes me think of how disasters form the subject matter for artists witnessing or reflecting on tragedies, ex. 9/11 or Katrina.
Daniel - 'moving images',absolutely, yes! And thanks so much for stopping by.
Jason & Emily - couldn't agree more.
Hannah - I always look forward to your thoughtful comments, thank you!
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