Erica Olive Shirk
Ericaoliveshirk.com Instagram: Blueladypress
And We Made Them Into Gods Concept to Fruition
For over twenty years I have sought to capture how our small actions and choices influence the greater world around us. Initially, I looked at slight moments of presence humans and animals have within a landscape, changing the landscape even if only by a minutia. Deepening my interest on how man, animals, and inanimate beings leave impressions on our environment and ourselves.
Starting from these external landscape narratives, my work in the past four years has pivoted inwards to the personal landscape. I work with an awareness of the impact of these ephemeral moments on both our personal interiors and the world that is exterior to us. As my work continues to develop and unfold, I find myself challenged to capture these interwoven relationships in our world.
As the mother of a college runner, I have watched track and field for over a decade. With this lived experience of raising an athlete I began examining how a subconscious layer exists within the world of sport. Talking with my son, watching races, both live and video, I came to realize that there is a communication happening with the runners, a sort of unconscious acknowledgment of pacing, jostling and eventually an outcome. I believe that this communication resides not just within the sport of running, but within all sports, and quite frankly within all our day to day interactions with others.
In the age of growing divisions I believe we need to realize what brings us together. Sport is one of those things. My work has veered from printmaking, but has not abandoned that form. Now, alongside printmaking, I use direct mark making through ink drawing, combined with various mix media elements, to capture the connections that we have as a collective through running. As the conscious and unconscious play out on the track, we, the fans, create a mythological narrative out of the winners. This God like figure of an athlete resides throughout art history, famously captured in Greek times. My current body of work seeks to document these connections found in track and field and the narrative of athletes.