Camden Whitehead

Participant Statement

mimi and i 
split our time between 
richmond and abroad
across the chesapeake bay 
on savage neck on the eastern shore of virginia.

we marvel at the land.
in richmond, 
the accretion of what is built by humans
where the river turns 
from ocean to hills.
where the builders listen to the land.
where the listeners ignore the land.
thinking they're its master.

on savage neck where twice a day
the tide rearranges
tons of sand
and leaves at its surface
the memory of the water and the wind,
treasures washed ashore.
where each season
the earth rotates from wheat to corn or soy,
tomatoes, potatoes or sweet potatoes.

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Project Statement

Pattern 1 - Low Tide - Savage Neck Dunes VA

1. december 2019 

2. location: 37.3283418N / 76.0164133W

3. sand/silt/pine coastal woodland

4. pencil and watercolor on strathmore aquarius II paper

5. watercolor

6. marvel/wonder

7. see poem above

8. ephemeral/eternal; water/land/sky; wind/water; light/shadow

Pattern 2 -  Lazy Boy Point - Savage Neck Dunes VA

1. december 2019 

2. location: 37.3276166N / 76.0158661W

3. sand, sunlight, water, wind

4. pencil and watercolor on strathmore aquarius II paper

5. watercolor

6. contemplative

7. see poem above

8. join/separate; parallel/perpendicular

 Pattern 3  - Receding Tide - West Wind - Savage Neck VA

1. december 2019 

2. location: 37.3275127N / 76.0182419W

3. water, sand, wind, water depth, sunlight

4. pencil and watercolor on strathmore aquarius II paper

5. watercolor

6. awe

7. see poem above

8. tripartite/one; part/whole; dissolve/join

Pattern 4 - Sand - Low-Tide - Savage Neck VA

1. december 2019 

2. location: 37.3277513N / 76.013664W

3. sand, silt, late afternoon sunlight, wind

4. pencil and watercolor on strathmore aquarius II paper

5. watercolor

6. curiosity

7. see poem above

8. the light ranged from gold to blue.

Pattern 5 - Incoming Tide - Savage Neck Dunes VA

1. december 2019

2. location: 37.3277622N / 76.0164683W

3. sand water, sunlight, wind

4. pencil and watercolor on strathmore aquarius II paper

5. watercolor

6. illumination

7. see poem above

8. the clouds, the sky, the bay, the sand, the riffles, the sand bar, the sun, the wind and the crosswind. They were all there.

Pattern 6 - Tide Slack - Savage Neck Dunes VA

1. december 2019 

2. location: 37.3269091N / 76.0164575W

3. sand, water, sunlight, wind

4. pencil and watercolor on strathmore aquarius II paper

5. watercolor

6. multivalence

7. see poem above

8. the challenge with a dynamic environment like the slack tide at savage neck dunes is capturing the dynamism in a fixed image. 

Pattern 7 - Tide Receding - Savage Neck VA

1. december 2019 

2. location: 37.3271559N / 76.0158232W

3. sand, water, sky

4. pencil and watercolor on strathmore aquarius II paper

5. watercolor

6. collaboration

7. see poem above

8. the joint between the reflective water and the matte sand creates a window into the earth.

Pattern 8 - Soybean - Savage Neck VA

1. december 2019 

2. location: 37.3409292N / 75.9967761W

3. soybean plants, estuarine forest, sky

4. pencil and watercolor on strathmore aquarius II paper

5. watercolor

6. deer dining room

7. see poem above

8. this soybean field is an outlier among these eight pattern studies if you look at the series as seven water and one earth painting, or if you look at it as seven natural environments and a manmade agricultural environment. However, as forces shaping our environment they are a coherent series.

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Artist Submissions