In the Artist’s Words: Russna Kaur

Artist Russna Kaur, whose artwork Burnt away in layers of clouds, they fall slowly…suspended in air, free as a gift is on view as part of the Boren Banner Series through October 17, 2021, shares a behind-the-scenes look into her creative process and some of the places that influenced the piece.

The work that I created for the second installment of the Boren Banner Series came together in layers and pieces over the course of several months. The process began at an artist residency at the Centrum Foundation in Port Townsend, WA in October 2020. The residency is located on Fort Worden State Park, a former United States Army Coast Artillery Corps base that was constructed between 1898 and 1917 to protect Puget Sound from invasion by sea. Due to the pandemic, the grounds were not as busy as usual for that time of year—much of the space felt abandoned and deserted: empty theatres, old bunkers, empty beaches, buildings that creak, and the crisp fall air.

Hole, echo, grain, salt rock echo brick bark bat dark star stare web stale tunnel
ghost boards
floor moan make crunch siren blare deer green keys walk card

This space allowed me to step away from my familiar surroundings and studio practice. I had the opportunity to consider how my new surroundings could impact my work—opening up the possibilities of new processes and experimentation.

Images of various places that influenced the artwork, including Fort Worden, Port Townsend; Pike Place Market, Seattle; and Vancouver and Richmond, Canada

My creative process typically starts off with some form of writing. I haven’t always thought of writing as a form of brainstorming or sketching. Growing up and in academic settings, I was used to writing being presented as this rigid, intimidating, structured method of conveying ideas. As part of my artistic practice, I wanted to challenge this structure so that writing or text could become a form of mark making, like painting or drawing. From this perspective, writing has become yet another way for me to process, abstract, rearrange, and make meaning or sense of my experiences. For my piece Burnt away…, I began by using the Centrum Foundation’s “Welcome Information” package to create a blackout/redacted poem. By skimming the pages from the package, I eliminated and highlighted words or phrases that captured my attention or sparked an idea. The final text/poem set the tone for the work I created; you can read the poem here.

Following the writing, I experimented with color. I wanted to focus on color exploration, specifically with the color red. What is red? How can I describe red? Can I gain a better understanding of this color? How does it sound? What does it feel and look like? What does it bring to the surface?

Pleat, fold, wrinkle, steam burn smoke breathe pose hot circle round fire farm
house visit stop
cut crack sell

Using small sheets of paper and acrylic paint, I began by coating each piece of paper with red paint (naphthol, cadmium, quinacridone, crimson, primary, etc.) and varying ratios of water. One after another, I accumulated several sheets and arranged them edge to edge, side by side, on my studio table. Seeing connection between the individual sheets—the edge of one surface, seemingly bleeding into another—I pinned them to the wall and continued to build the composition. Over the course of the residency, I investigated various materials and processes such as printmaking with linocuts, drawing, oil sticks, and textiles, creating studies and other works while working on this central piece.

Images of the artwork taking shape and shifting over the months, first in Port Townsend, WA and then back in the artist’s studio in Vancouver, Canada.

Shifting back to my studio in Vancouver, Canada after the end of the residency, the painting began to grow and expand as I combined several other materials, such as felt, pastels, found wood, cradled wood panel, and canvas, each time arranging, turning, expanding, shrinking and playing with the composition. Throughout the making process, I continued to sketch, using physical materials and digital means like Photoshop, with the text/poem acting as a sort of guide as I thought through my use of different surfaces.

Checkered, puddles, fence, grey sky ocean crash white muffled muted path red
notes pasted
pinned broken blue call connect glass class fall sticky pale warm metal loud salt

My color palette, which is typically quite bright and vibrant, took on a slightly more muted tone in this piece. Considering the color palette of my surroundings over the course of making the work, I can start to understand how they influenced my creative decisions. When I consider the colors of the places I visited, objects I held, and things I experienced, I can find connections to specific lines, shapes, textures, patterns in the final piece.

Through the creation of this work, I deepened my investigation into the role my surroundings play within my compositions. Additionally, I experimented with various mediums and approaches in order to incorporate layers of my own personal experiences into the work, perhaps as a way to try and make sense of them. I am excited to have the opportunity to contribute a work to this series, generate conversations, spark curiosity and offer the community a moment to connect with the world around them.

Russna Kaur
Artist, educator