Emma Macleod: Something Worth Doing

Something Worth Doing : A Seven Month Index features a collection of 222 drawings on 3” x 5” index cards created over the span of seven months. Why index cards? Index cards are often used for memorization and organization; flash cards are created for studying, recipes are recorded for safe keeping— index cards serve as a humble, physical and visual tool to create order in our chaotic lives. 

As one might journal everyday, creating drawings on index cards has been an approachable and accessible release of visual ideas without overthinking. Setting my own conditions for the work with consideration of material, allows me to keep a daily, digestible, practice that I approach eagerly. 

The work itself primarily focuses on the formal elements of visual art; line, shape, color, texture, value, form, and space. I start a drawing very loosely, allowing play with material and freedom of expression through mark-making. Intuition is very important in this process; as the layers build, I find shapes and lines that interest me, and build upon these elements. Color, form, and space is introduced into the work, bringing dimension to the card’s surface.

In addition to the drawings, this exhibition includes paintings of various sizes and material. Acrylic and oil paint on wood panels and muslin fabric are used to realize the imagery in the drawings through another medium. I am interested in how the subject and quality of the drawings evolve when introducing a wet medium and shift in scale. There is always a point in the process where I have to put the drawing away and welcome a new iteration of the image. Through time, intuition, repetition, curated conditions, and play, a collection of ideas begins to grow, and becomes something worth doing. 

During the duration of Something Worth Doing : A Seven Month Index, a new week's worth of drawings will be added to the exhibition every Friday.