Ivia Sky Yavelow – “Cosmos” (hand print) with graphite, charcoal and dust on tracing paper

Much of my recent work has been contemplating blankness and the creation process.  I have been experimenting with how marks can come together to create an indistinguishable whole, where the whole becomes a component again, a “blank” space, for further creation.  A white gallery wall, gessoed canvas, or sheet of paper are often used as backgrounds for works of art.  But these “blank” contexts are themselves made from processes of creation – accumulated marks and erasures.  They have unique textures and histories, such as plaster or paint patches, paint drips, smudges or tears on the edge of a paper.  These contexts were created (with purpose) from the same materials often used in art pieces. These pieces use basic materials such as gesso and paper to investigate the materiality of what is often used as a “blank slate” and to experiment with making visible some of the movements and processes that can go into creating surfaces related to art making, playing with ways that solid white surfaces can be formed and destroyed.