JOE EDWARDS
As a native of Western North Carolina - areas near Asheville, NC, I have been influenced over the years by incredibly talented artists and crafters, two of whom were my late mother and father. My parents were mountain people who were influenced by the great depression and WWII. I think people of that era who lived with those influences developed a “crafting” inclination out of necessity. My mom, sewing, fussing endlessly at some creative way to nurture and feed her cherished wild birds, and keeping the household working smoothly; and my dad cobbling together a sled or a plow or a harness or keeping some needed contraption working were all forms of crafting in my view. In their later years, they evolved into bonified, excellent crafters making jewelry, faceting gemstones, doll making, wood carving, and painting to name a few.
Early in my adult life, I trained as a mechanical drafter, which paid some bills and taught me a bit about pencils, pens and inks and the mechanics of straight lines and circles, but really provided no opportunity for creativity. I quickly found it to be a dull and unrewarding profession and moved on to other pursuits. I did, however maintain an interest in putting pen to paper. I found myself “doodling” to pass time; unknowingly beginning to understand shapes and forms in nature, shadows, texture, and ways to express those things in black and white. Being somewhat color “challenged” the stark black and white ways of defining shapes and depths seemed a source of fascination for me. That fascination has over the years evolved into what you see here.
I am chronically guilty of dabbling at many pursuits, becoming a master of none: pen and ink as is obvious, weaving tiny baskets from horse hair, weaving leather bracelets, refining the work of mother nature to form unique walking staffs, checkering gunstocks and carving in wood, tying trout flies, making knives, tooling leather and photography are a few that have stuck with me; however none have seemingly remained with me so timelessly and intensely as pen and ink work.
As I started working with ink, I was understandably focused on the finished product: I wanted to see what my work would look like when complete. Over time it finally occurred to me that it was the process I enjoyed most – not the result. While the end is rewarding, once I quit focusing on finishing and started to simply enjoy the process, the quality of my work, at least in my opinion started to improve. I’ll often start something only to stop at some point to let it “percolate”, often standing it up in a corner, sometimes for months at a time where it will speak to me, giving me some clue as to what to do next.
When drawing a “subject” of some sort, it’s obvious what the intent is – to compose something that looks like what it’s supposed to look like. Much of my early work was trying to draw “something”, however I more enjoy simply “doodling” on paper where I don’t have an agenda or a notion of what the end looks like. I usually start near the center of the paper drawing something that forms in my mind. Over time, the complete “work” becomes whatever it becomes. Many of the works you see here are the result of that unplanned process.
I hope you enjoy your visit to the website and the work.
Feel free to comment via email at 3375art@gmail.com. Inquire if you’re curious and I’ll tell you the significance of “3375”.