Maren Henson: Marking Language

1.

2. 

3.

4.

5. 

6.

Image Descriptions

1. Support. 

    base supports the.  

    the top supports the

    this tree doesn’t work. 

2. Uncouple: Silence - Charcoal on Paper, 48x84”, 2015. 

This series focuses on breaking down each letter to their basic line forms. The struggle for the letters to complete themselves to create the full thought is depicted through the negative space.

    

3. 26 Years - Charcoal and Ink on Paper, 88x150” and 84x72”, 2016. 

This installation is an investigation through the English alphabet. First, I created five large drawings all focusing on one letter, resulting in 130 drawings for 26 letters. I transposed them into the smaller grey pieces, creating twenty-six new drawings and the language written about them.

4. 26 Years

   5. 26 years (Part I)

   6. 26 Years (Detail)

Statement

Shifting letters of the English alphabet from their spoken context to that of their written sound, my work focuses on being the vehicle from which each letter speaks to us. I begin this shift through the act of drawing, listening and maintaining the mark of each letter once it is written on the page. Through a process of recording the written sounds the letters later take on the form of drawing, painting, and video performance. Treating all media as a drawing, the act of mark making is the central component.The universal sound of written language is through the sounds of their marks; this is where letters. live.

Bio

Maren Henson encodes the aural, visual, and personal aspects of language with paper, charcoal, and sound elements. Her interest in these materials appear throughout her work starting at the University of North Texas, where she earned a Bachelor of Fine Art in Painting and Drawing in 2014.

She received her Master of Fine Art degree in the Mount Royal School of Multidisciplinary Art at the Maryland Institute College of Art. Henson has exhibited work in Texas, Maryland, and California she currently works and resides in Baltimore, Maryland and most recently was a resident artist at the Vermont Studio Center.