Notes on the State of Virginia

A series of twenty-six assemblages (created between 2011-2013):
Fourteen 27″ x 21″ on topographic maps [represented by the first nine pieces in this gallery] and
Twelve 12″ square on stacked mirror, maps, or paper [last six]

 This project was made possible by support from a 2010-2012 Virginia Commission for the Arts Fellowship.                                     The series has recently been purchased by the University of Virginia. 

Images Copyright Of:
SUZANNE STRYK
Bridge

Bridge | 2012 | 27" x 19" | Mixed Media: USGS topographic map, swallow genome printout, paint on Mylar

Images Copyright Of:
SUZANNE STRYK
Jefferson’s Secret

Jefferson’s Secret | 2011 | 27" x 19" | Mixed media: USGS topographic map, acrylic on Jefferson silhouette based on Raphaelle Peale’s original, Jefferson’s original handwritten Notes on the State of Virginia printed on clear Mylar, fern, acrylic painting on mylar,* map tack, Google Earth image of Monticello (leaf)]

Images Copyright Of:
SUZANNE STRYK
The Green Fuse

The Green Fuse | 2013 | 27" x 21" | Mixed Media: USGS topographic map, shoe, carbon paper, feathers, nails, grasses, paint on Mylar, sketches printed on Mylar, book pages

Images Copyright Of:
SUZANNE STRYK
Coal Tattoo

Coal Tattoo | 2012 | 27" x 21" | Mixed Media: USGS topographic map, coal dust, sketches printed on Mylar, plants, acrylic paint, modeling paste

Images Copyright Of:
SUZANNE STRYK
Sacrament

Sacrament | 2012 | 27" x 19" | Mixed Media: USGS topographic map, ferns, leaf, acrylic on paper and Mylar

Images Copyright Of:
SUZANNE STRYK
Wunderkammer

Wunderkammer | 2012 | 27" x 19" | Mixed Media: USGS topographic map, plant stains and acrylic paint on paper, sketches printed on clear Mylar

Images Copyright Of:
SUZANNE STRYK
Flyway

Flyway | 2013 | 27" x 21" | Mixed Media: USGS topographic map, salt marsh grasses, acrylic on Mylar

Images Copyright Of:
SUZANNE STRYK
Daily Observations

Daily Observations | 2012 | 27" x 21" | Mixed Media: USGS topographic map, sketchbook pages printed on Mylar, acrylic on magnolia leaves, map tack

Images Copyright Of:
SUZANNE STRYK
Lost and Found

Lost and Found | 2011 | 27" x 21" | Mixed Media: topographic map, tree leaves, insect sketches printed on Mylar, gauze, rust/walnut/lunar black watercolor on Mylar, map tack

Images Copyright Of:
SUZANNE STRYK
Looking Backwards

Looking Backwards | 2012 | 27" x 21" | Mixed Media: (topographic map, clay from Poplar Forest [Jefferson’s retreat, and where he worked on Notes on the State of Virginia],modeling paste, acrylic on Mylar [eyes painted from Rembrandt Peale’s portrait of Jefferson], plants, measuring tape

Images Copyright Of:
SUZANNE STRYK
How the Past Returns

How the Past Returns | 2013 | 27" x 21" | Mixed Media: topographic map, acrylic, drawings and text printed on Mylar [from the booklet “Climate Change and the Chesapeake Bay”]

Images Copyright Of:
SUZANNE STRYK
Back to the Garden

Back to the Garden | 2013 | 27" x 21" | Mixed Media: USGS topographic map, pencil, pressed plants, paint and plant stains on paper, bark

Images Copyright Of:
SUZANNE STRYK
Back to the Garden

Back to the Garden | 2014 | 12" x 12" x 2.5" | SIDE VIEW

Images Copyright Of:
SUZANNE STRYK
Urban Nest

Urban Nest | 2012 | 12" x 12" x 2.5" | Mixed Media: found maps and other printed materials, grasses, map, acrylic, altered mirror

Images Copyright Of:
SUZANNE STRYK
Waterway

Waterway | 2011 | 12" x 12" x 2.5" | Mixed Media: USGS topographic map, sketches painted on Mylar, acrylic paint, altered mirror

Images Copyright Of:
SUZANNE STRYK
Maroon

Maroon | 2012 | 12" x 12" x 2.5" | Mixed Media: plant stains, blood, map, text printed on Mylar [George Washington’s Dismal Swamp diary and Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Dred front page], map, acrylic on Arches watercolor paper, altered mirror

Images Copyright Of:
SUZANNE STRYK
Collection

Collection | 2013 | 12" x 12" x 2.5" | Mixed Media: acrylic on paper, USGS topographic map, insect pins, altered mirror, text

Images Copyright Of:
SUZANNE STRYK
Life Cycle: Luna Moth

Life Cycle: Luna Moth | 2013 | 12" x 12" x 2.5" | Mixed Media: topographic map, moth cocoon, acrylic on paper and Mylar, old mirror

Images Copyright Of:
SUZANNE STRYK
Gaining Ground

Gaining Ground | 2013 | 12" x 12" x 2.5" | Mixed Media: acrylic on paper, topographic map, gauze, plant stains on paper

Images Copyright Of:
SUZANNE STRYK
OverLook

OverLook | 2012 | 12" x 12" x 2.5" | Mixed Media: topographic map, plant stains on paper, leaves, sticks, gauze, map tack

Images Copyright Of:
SUZANNE STRYK
Pilgrim

Pilgrim | 2012 | 12" x 12" x 2.5" | Mixed Media: insects, plant stains on paper, sketches and map printed on Mylar, altered mirror

Images Copyright Of:
SUZANNE STRYK
Road Trip

Road Trip | 2013 | 12" x 12" x 2.5" | Mixed Media: road maps, ink on Mylar, altered mirror

Images Copyright Of:
SUZANNE STRYK
World Enough

World Enough | 2013 | 12" x 12" x 2.5" | Mixed Media: acrylic on handmade book, Riker specimen mount, leaves, altered mirror, map

Images Copyright Of:
SUZANNE STRYK
Dialogue on the Tides

Dialogue on the Tides | 2013 | 12" x 12" x 2.5" | Mixed Media: acrylic on paper and Mylar, altered mirror

“Notes on the State of Virginia” is a series of place-based assemblages on US Geological Survey topographic maps (2011-2013). It’s a contemporary twist on Thomas Jefferson’s book of that title. Some pieces explore the land he described, while most focus on places in the state the artist found ecologically or culturally distinctive. To create this series, Suzanne researched and traveled to special regions in Virginia’s Coastal Plain, Piedmont, Blue Ridge, Valley and Ridge, and Appalachian Plateau.

This 8-minute video describes the project and the making of the artwork for this series:

From Donna Cedar-Southworth’s élan magazine article, “Interpretation”:

“When fine artist Suzanne Stryk learned she had received a grant from the Virginia Commission for the Arts to create her own artistic interpretation of Thomas Jefferson’s 1785 book Notes on the State of Virginia, she was both excited and daunted: “What have I gotten myself into?” she wondered. “Virginia is so biologically and culturally rich. And how audacious to use Jefferson’s book for my series!”

But then she remembered Jefferson’s own words when he was asked to revise his book decades after writing the original. “The work itself is nothing more than the measure of a shadow, never stationary, but lengthening as the sun advances, and to be taken anew from hour to hour,” he wrote. “It must remain, therefore, for some other hand to sketch its appearance at another epoch.” Suzanne considered his use of the word “sketch” as a prophecy, she says, and with that, she dove in . . .  ”

See full élan article and the Washington Post review of “Notes on the State of Virginia” here: http://www.suzannestryk.com/publications/reviews/

“Notes on the State of Virginia” artist’s statement: Notes VA Artist’s Statement

The Middle of Somewhere: An Artist Explores the Nature of Virginia is available now from Trinity University Press. In this book, Suzanne takes the reader across Virginia to experience the making of the “Notes on the State of Virginia” series. For more about the book, visit: https://tupress.org/9781595349613/the-middle-of-somewhere/

From Trinity University Press:

There’s no such thing as the middle of nowhere. Everywhere is the middle of somewhere for some living being. That was Suzanne Stryk’s mantra as she journeyed through her home state on a mission inspired by the reflective, encyclopedic sensibility of Thomas Jefferson’s book Notes on the State of Virginia. While acknowledging the moral contradictions in the founding father’s work and life, Stryk offers a contemporary interpretation of Virginia’s natural and cultural ecology from a visual artist’s point of view. The Middle of Somewhere is an assemblage of essays, sketches, and ephemera from her travels. In a challenge that is universal, Stryk invites us to travel slowly, tread lightly, and look closely at what makes each place a “somewhere.”

 

 

 

 

Installation views of “Notes on the State of Virginia” exhibit: 

 

 

b-taubman-museum-installation-view-1

 

 

William King Museum of Art

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Taubman Museum of Art

c-taubman-museum-view-of-va-map-and-specimen-table

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Specimen table and Virginia map

 

EXHIBIT SCHEDULE 

Taubman Museum of Art, Roanoke (2013)

The Athenaeum Gallery, Alexandria (2014-15)

Museum of the Shenandoah Valley, Winchester (2016)

Portsmouth Art & Cultural Center, Portsmouth (2017)

William King Museum of Art, Abingdon (2018)

The University of Virginia, Charlottesville (2018)

From several of these venues, display cases with sketchbook pages and specimens collected on Virginia trips: