When was this piece created? ‘Winter’s Reservoir in Naples Yellow’ is a monoprint that I made in the winter of 2021 as part of my ‘Winter’s Reservoir’ series.
What is the story & inspiration behind this piece? The work was inspired by the mundane, quietly beautiful aspects of the natural world I noticed on daily walks around the local reservoir with my dog. There are about ten monoprints in this series, including ‘Winter’s Reservoir in Two Parts’ that was included in “Blue 2021’ at CAA’s Kathryn Schultz Gallery.
The shape in the print came from drawings I did of a large rock next to the reservoir whose shape I found oddly comforting. I did several contour drawings of the rock and other characters I saw along my daily route. The abstracted shape that emerged from my drawings of the rock were my favorite and I chose these as the template for monoprints using a gelatin plate. I cut out stencils from used Tyvek mailing envelopes and other household detritus to make smaller 10 x 8” prints. Once I had some images I liked, I moved to a larger plate and continued the experimentation with 14 x 12” prints. ‘Winter’s Reservoir in Naples Yellow’ is one of the 14 x 12” monoprints.
The colors are inspired by the muted winter light and the quiet, muffled feeling of a new snow. I worked on this series during some of my most difficult weeks of the pandemic when my elementary school-aged sons were home all day for remote school and I had recently left a stressful but meaningful job as a social worker preventing homelessness to be home with them.
Cold morning walks with my dog were a favorite part of the day: quiet, invigorating and predictable, yet somehow always slightly different too. I loved walking the same path everyday but noticing something new and beautiful each day- the curve of a branch, patterns in the ice, prints in the snow, or the shape of a rock. It was also comforting to think about the interconnectedness of natural history and human history- all these rocks and branches had witnessed through the years: this was not their first pandemic and would not be their last. The lines, shapes, textures and colors of my winter’s reservoir steadied me and steeled me for the unknowns of the future. It seems fitting to revisit this series now as we face cold, uncertain days, still in the hold of the pandemic- and remind myself how I found light and hope in the darkest days of last winter.
Sarah Morrison, mixed media artist & social worker
Sarah Morrison is an Artist and Social Worker based in Lexington, MA. Ecology, social issues, organic shapes and natural colors inspire her art while her art-making process is playful and experimental. Sarah studied Painting, Printmaking and English Literature at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia, and Syracuse University in Florence, Italy. Her graduate studies at Hunter College School of Social Work in New York City focused on Social Policy and Community Organizing. As a Social Worker, Sarah concentrates on the overlapping issues of homelessness, poverty, health and affordable housing. Her artwork is informed by the transient, temporal beauty of daily life and the interplay between humans, the natural world and our man-made environment, including social and political issues.
Website: www.sarahcmorrisonart.com
Instagram: @sarahcmorrisonart