From the Catskill Mountains: BPAC Artist-in-Residence Entry June 9, 2013

Throughout her year as Burchfield artist-in-residence, Janelle Lynch will share her thoughts and impressions with us as we share her journey into the spirit and work of Charles Burchfield.

Dear BPAC team:

Reading about writing this morning. John McPhee in The New Yorker. I made a mental note to ask Nancy about her writing process. Elegant, accessible, smart, it flows. Does she struggle, too? My "Nancy list" grows.

The Adirondack chair I was sitting in faced the woods. My attention was drawn repeatedly from the magazine's page to the trees. Pulled, as if by force.

This image of a fern that I made a couple of weeks ago came to mind. When I saw the plant, I was stopped in my tracks. "This is the most beautiful thing I've ever seen in my life." Then, "But why?" Doubt's voice. "That's ridiculous."

I've been photographing consistently since I made the picture, even intensively, including this last week in Buffalo. The "why" is becoming clearer. I will share it, in time. Until then, I will say, thank you.

To the woods,

Janelle

Janelle Lynch is the 2013 Burchfield resident artist. She has garnered international recognition over the last decade for her large-format photographs of the urban and rural landscape. Widely exhibited, her work is in several public and private collections including the Burchfield Penney, George Eastman House Museum, the Brooklyn Museum, the Newark Museum, the Fundación Vila Casas, Barcelona, and the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo, Salta, Argentina.