Sandra Allen, born in 1963, has been using trees as the subject of her stunning large-scale drawings since 2001. Appropriate to her work, she lives and works in the small New England town of Hingham, Massachusetts. Previously a painter, Allen now focuses entirely on drawing trees, using mostly graphite on white paper. The result is a photorealistic drawing that requires viewers to come closer in order to see the hand of the artist in the graphite lines and shading. Allen explains her feelings on this form of art: “Drawing is both a noun and a verb. The action registers the process of the making and the image becomes an object of contemplation. Drawing is also one of our most basic primitive instincts and I consider it the closest medium to thought.”
Allen photographs the trees around her for inspiration, whether she is in Massachusetts or away on trips to places such as Costa Rica. She has drawn trees of all kinds, including beech trees as well as palm trees. To begin her drawings, she overlays a grid onto the photograph and translates each section onto paper, making conscious decisions on what to emphasize and what to leave out in her depiction. This involves strong concentration on the details of the surface of the tree which Allen calls “an incredible sculptural narrative.”
Allen’s tree drawings have been called “portraits” because of their photorealistic quality and intricate attention to detail. As in realistic portraits, her trees have imperfections and odd qualities such as intertwining branches and twisting trunks. With the intensity of her admiration, it makes sense that she would one day create a drawing of the largest tree (by trunk volume) in the world. This individual tree, nicknamed the General Sherman tree, is a Giant Sequoia located in California in the Sequoia National Park. Allen’s Ballast, a multi-panel drawing of a section of the General Sherman, is 18 ½ feet across, only half the width of the actual tree (36 ½), and 11 feet high (the tree itself is 275 feet tall). Even at the reduced size, the viewer feels miniscule in comparison.
The New Britain Museum of American Art recently exhibited Allen’s work as part of the NEW/NOW series. The exhibition was on view from October 30, 2009 until January 24, 2010. Her piece Risorgimento, is now owned by the Museum.
The structure, form and surface of a tree record the strength, fragility, growth and endurance of its life over time. I see a correlation between the development of the human psyche and personality and the visual narrative that is evident on the surface and form of a tree. Using drawing as my medium and the tree as my subject has freed me to explore and experiment with the subtleties and possibilities of their visual meaning and metaphor. With each piece I try to push myself to a place that I have never gone before.
-Sandra Allen
Visit her website for more information, images, and news.
Readers:
How do you feel about Allen’s tree drawings being called portraits? Do you agree or disagree?
How do you feel about an artist using only one subject continuously in their art?
Have any of you seen her work in person, perhaps recently at NBMAA? What effect, if any, did it have on you?
[…] Sandra Allen: The Portraiture of Trees « New Britain Museum of American Art. […]
My name is Sandra Morrison and my married name Allen—I am also Sandra Allen-516 8335340—-my son Stephen Allen Jr at a young age was also intrigued with trees he is now 10 years old 9.16.01 ..almost all his collections had to do with trees , I encouraged him. Our family love your work, encourage this topic and wish you continued success.
Being lucky enough to know Sandra and have seen Sandra at work in her home, this is a person with a deep “rooted” gift..she herself is a gift that we should feel honored that she can, and does, share it with us…simply AMAZING
My son Stephen Allen Jr. was kidnapped, raped and his skull and collar bone broken while in the care of Mercy First Foster Care…5169210404……their funding is now cut ..because of other injuries to other children tooo…they discourage children from any form of art therapy which I suggested……instead potent psychiatric drugs given to my son and others who cry to be returned home…..If anyone sees Stephen Allen Jr please tell him his mother and father love him dearly and we are alive….. see Fury at Foster Abuse….New York Post and Jamaican Oberver..Want our son back…..Fraud Forensic Jill Jones Sodderman
My name is Sandra Morrison and my married name Allen—I am also Sandra Allen-516 8335340 516 486 7077—-my son Stephen Allen Jr (see Fury at Foster Abuse–at a young age was also intrigued with trees he is now 10 years old 9.16.01 ..almost all his collections had to do with trees , OUR FAMILY encouraged him. Our family love your work, encourage this topic and wish you continued success.
see also Queens Supreme Court case 1496/08
see also Federal case CV10 0667, CV 08 1226