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Thursday
April 9, 2009

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These paintings are about
how time and context can change
everything. They explore the grand
narrative of our country's settlement,
and the effect of that story on our modern
world view. The images of logging in the
paintings are based on photographs by
Darius Kinsey, who took pictures of
logging operations all over the Pacific
Northwest about 100 years ago. That
period was one of extreme transition -
when forests became cities and trees
became industrial products. The process
of settlement and resource extraction
that is so visible in the Northwest today
is merely the continuation of a pattern
that began at Jamestown 400 years
ago, our need for natural resources
fueling the march towards our
'Manifest Destiny.' We see
Kinsey's images - and the
history of US settlement -
in a very different light
today, but the boom and
bust (drill it / mine it /
log it till it's gone, then
move on) mentality still de-
fines modern day capitalism,
our approach to the environ-
ment, and the way we use nat-
ural resources. ~Sarah Kavage