Overview

Hand-drawn using charcoal pencils and compressed charcoal sticks on white paper, Overview depicts the Earth and the moon.

Version 1:
14' wide x 7'8" tall, 2018.

Researching the astronomical led me to a phenomenon called the Overview Effect: a term used to describe the profound awe and deep cognitive shift experienced by astronauts viewing Earth from space. Described as a profound sense of bliss and timelessness, a difference-dissolving unity, and an interconnected euphoria, the Overview Effect is said to be a state similar to that achieved by meditating Buddhist monks. Looking upon the Earth also has the effect of highlighting the vulnerability and fragility of our slight planet, placing the responsibility of its care in our collective hands, and reminding us that we all originate from and coexist on the same floating speck in the universe. Wishing to create even a glimpse of the Overview Effect for my audience, I drew the Earth and Moon for us to view as though from space.

These works have been shown as separate drawings, in two different versions of this installation (shown above and below), and as part of my Omniscient Body installation.

Version 2 of Overview:
10’6” wide x 7’8” tall

The Earth drawing has also been exhibited separately …

At EVOKE Contemporary, Santa Fe, NM, in 2019

And at the Glass Gallery at Northwestern Polytechnic, Grande Prairie, Alberta, in 2018

Praise for Overview

In 2019, Overview won the Manifest ONE Prize, an international competition at the Manifest Gallery in Cincinnati, Ohio. ‘Overview’ was selected by 18 jurors from 927 works by 296 artists, and exhibited at Manifest Gallery from Dec. 13, 2018 - Jan. 11, 2019.

It was then named by Cincinnati CityBeat Magazine as the Best Solo Exhibition at a Gallery in 2019.

In 2021, Overview was one of 120 works selected from 1925 entries by juror Pamela Phatsimo Sunstrum, for UNC Asheville’s Drawing Discourse exhibition.