Seeing Past the Ground, 2024

Etching Plate, 6’’x9’’

A few months ago I was sitting on my couch staring out my window admiring the fall leaves. The changes in the colors are extravagant and for the few weeks that they are at full saturation, I want nothing more than to be outside. Seeing the leaves fall is sad but we get to rest assured that there will be more leaves in the years to follow, but before this, we know that there will be baronness, a bloom, and a growth before the harvest. It is no coincidence that we use the same word “seasons” to describe our lives. We go into seasons of trial and baroness, as well as seasons where we grow a lot and get to reap the benefits of our growth. The one biggest difference I have noticed between people and the seasons of our earth is that we do not freak out when the leaves fall off the trees in the same way we do when we are in a season of baroness. This is because we know that there will be a bloom in the trees, but similarly, we should hold onto the promise that as something is taken away from us there is something much more out there for us.

I read a book a long time ago and the author made a comment about how the time when the tree is first planted into the ground is just as important to its purpose as the season it is bearing the most fruit. I feel this is consistent with the way that we live. Our seasons of baroness are just as valuable to us as when we are at our full potential, all that we can do is be patient and root ourselves in the ground. This piece shows a change and growth utilizing the scraping and burnishing technique to show the way that things in our lives can be transformed with time.