wildscape. literary journal

Title: Growth // Artist: Linsey Tankersley

about the piece

This piece is an 18×26 inch woodcut carved on an MDF block and hand-printed on Rives BFK printing paper. It was printed using hand mixed ink made of bone and vine charcoal. Its monochromatic nature reflects the duality present in the concepts behind the piece.  I created this piece after my children and I carefully cared for a monarch chrysalis we had found.  We watched the tender butterfly emerge. Then we released it in the wildflowers outside while it was still drying its wings. Later I found that a praying mantis had captured it and its wings lay on the ground below. I felt deeply in the moment of this everyday life and death drama, often invisible to us. Afterward, I walked among the wildflowers and found a newly hatched monarch caterpillar hidden beneath a milkweed leaf. It reminded me of the side of the wheel that always turns again, offering rebirth and life. I thought about the deep and tenderly hidden parts of ourselves that often try to emerge too early, that need to be nurtured by the conditions around us or open wings to be met with adversity. Even so, a turn of the wheel offers another seed ready to begin growing again. This piece is about patience, taking the time that needs to be taken, creating conditions for a moment we have hope will come.

about the artist // Linsey Tankersley