Joan Kahn
September, 2017
"Every year I spend summer and part of winter in Vermont. The trees of this landscape impress, fascinate, and inspire awe and respect in me. My ambition now is to learn the names of all the species that grow in New England.
Each tree is at a certain point in its own life cycle. Like humans, trees go through life stages and appear differently in each. The grains of the wood of a particular tree describe the history of its life stages.
The lives of trees are intricately tied to the larger natural life of this planet, something with which we humans are still learning to live in harmony. My geometric compositions on wood panels are responses to the grain shapes that are visual records of trees’ growth. For me, these grains also represent the flow of all natural life.
Thus my paintings are a way of paying attention presently, of being engaged with the life of trees specifically, and universally; hence the title of this exhibition: “See the Woods for the Trees.”
Joan Kahn, Barnard, VT
joankahn.com