More About Aragorn Arts
Aragorn Arts is inspired by the character of Aragorn (aka Strider) from J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. The name has been with me for many years - and was a natural choice for this venture. Aragorn was an honorable character who unified divergent groups to serve a common goal at a time of great peril.
Like many others, I have experienced the trauma of wildfires over the last 20 years - as climate change leads to drier and warmer conditions. As a forester, I also know that forests are surprisingly resilient to changing conditions and that wildfires are part of the ecology of these landscapes. But nothing prepares you for the sight of a massive wildfire moving across the land, vaporizing trees and vegetation while threatening communities. This art is a tribute to the forests and communities that have lived the experience of fire - and grown more resilient as a result.
What is a Monoprint?
Known as the most painterly method among the printmaking techniques, a monoprint is a non editionable kind of print and is essentially a printed painting.
The characteristic of this method is that no two prints are alike. However, images can be similar, but editioning is not possible. The true appeal of the monoprint (as well as the monotype) lies in the unique translucency that creates a quality of light which is very different from a painting on paper or a print, and the beauty of this media is also in its spontaneity and its combination of printmaking, painting and drawing mediums.
Reference: www.monoprints.com
A blackened stump highlights the damage from an interface wildfire in Kamloops, BC.
Cutting off an old stump for a print block on Vancouver Island.
Print block collecting on the 2021 Tremont creek wildfire near Logan Lake, BC.
Each block requires a lot of preparation before it's ready for printing.
Examining a heavily burned Douglas-fir on the Tremont Creek Wildfire (photo credit: G. Mierau.)
Collecting burned tree blocks is dirty work!