Castings
In the series, Journal Entries and Field Studies, Ewen
takes excerpts from 19th century botanical and zoological textbooks, using
them to represent the observer’s notes. The combination of found text and fabricated
specimens creates a fictionalized account of a scientist’s observations.
The artist’s three-dimensional drawing refers both to scientific notation
and diagramming, as well as to the hand of the artist herself, suggesting a
continuum between art and science. Ewen explains, “Our attempts
to contain experience and the impossibility of permanence are issues that resonate
with how I experience my place in the natural world.”
These, plus an earlier series, Riddles and Clues, are an exploration
of natural phenomena through collecting, sorting, categorizing, mapping, studying
and interpreting.