Senior Stephen Walsh revealed his collection of abstract drawings on the seventh floor of the Law school last Thursday. Only one graduating senior is chosen by President Selma Botman to display their work in the law building each year. Walsh is this years’ pick.
Of roughly average height and a slender build, Walsh, a native of Rockland, is a nontraditional student. He chose USM for its program and location. “I wasn’t going to MECA,” he said. He declined to reveal his age as he’s a little older than the average USM student.
Walsh’s line drawings show a passion for abstraction. Currently, his interest lies in using a series of individual lines to create an abstract form, developing what he refers to as a “physical energy” where the marks inevitably converge. Walsh likes to work in series so when he develops something interesting on one piece, he can move it to another and continue with the idea.
One set of untitled drawings feature a series of criss-crossing pencil lines, creating several interesting geometric forms. The truly interesting thing about the technique is how Walsh layers his lines, developing contrasting shades of grey and creating the illusion of three dimensionality; a drawing which appears at first glance to be like a birds-eye view of a jumbled city grid perceptibly rises from the center of the page. Its pair continues with the theme, only white pencil is smudged through the center, contrasting the energy of the artist with the power of deliberately confined negative space.
Another, longer series of drawings feature long pencil strokes in mostly the same direction. The effect is rather like blades of grass, fur or the individual barbs of feathers. The lines are softer, but no less deliberate. It shows how each stroke of the pencil has its own unique energy, which Walsh displays to their best advantage.
Before graduation, Walsh is looking forward to his upcoming internship. The details aren’t settled yet, but he has a few mentors in mind. Walsh will act as the assistant of a working, local artist. He’ll be behind the scenes, helping in the studio, organizing and setting up art shows and hopefully learning a few new techniques along the way.
After his internship is completed, Walsh’s ultimate goal is to be a professional, working artist. He is looking at graduate schools but hasn’t decided where he’d want to go or necessarily want to study, although he concentrated mostly in painting and ceramics at USM and would like to continue in those disciplines – and drawing of course, which he sees as painting’s basis.
The show runs through May 21 on the seventh floor of the law building in Portland. Walsh’s work is of course, for sale. He can be contacted at [email protected].