Faculty of Art

Drawing and Painting

Niki Sutherland

Resilience

This work was created for the Installations Studio fundraising auction. I was so proud to participate in this event, for which my contribution was to create a response-piece to a beautiful ceramic incense holder by one of the talented artists from Inspirations studio.

“Spalted Maple is wood that indicates the presence of an invasive organism. Most trees succumb to the inevitable rot that follows this incursion before they are cut, however, the Maple is an exceptional species of wood. Although not resistant, Maple is remarkably resilient, and can continue to grow despite this adversity. It is only after a tree is felled and milled that spalting is discovered where the kiln-drying process kills the bacteria, revealing the resulting pattern of thin black lines and discoloration. From these unique and beautiful scars in the grain, the narrative of the wood’s defiant endurance and strength is shared. ”