Getting to Know One Another – Ed Larson of Branching Streams

Greetings All!

Here is the second installment of our “Getting to Know One Another” Series. There as many of us here and we are all so busy that it is important to take a bit of time to learn more about one another.

Thank you Ed for sharing yourself with us!

Alice

 BranchingStreams is the etsy shop for the contemporary abstract artist Edward Larson. A painter living and working in North Carolina. My Shop name is a reference to a religious poem by Sekito Kisen, the eighth Chinese Zen ancestor since the Buddha, titled the Sandokai which can be found here ( http://home.pon.net/wildrose/agreevar.htm ). Currently I am an artist in residence in the Golden Belt arts complex, Durham NC. http://www.goldenbeltarts.com/artists_artistResidence.shtml

Rare self portrait by Ed Larson

My work is influenced by my meditation practice, decoration, wall paper, lace, Japanese “katagami” (paper stencils used to dye kimonos) and the artwork of abstract expressionist like Motherwell, Rothko, Mondrian, Reinhardt, Hans Hofmann and Franz Kline among others.

My materials are generally acrylic on canvas though I have been known to do the occasion screen print or transfer. The composition of each painting is created as a whole in a similar way one might write a word or calligraphic mark. I believe spontaneity is practiced. For each successful composition there are many preliminary attempts. Generally, if after a first attempt I find the structure displeasing I recreate the composition as a whole, rather than attempt to work on it in separate and disjointed parts. This preliminary structure is temporarily sketched using water on a solid color canvas, most often a black canvas.
Once I am satisfied with the image I quickly fix the temporary lines using black paint. Working black on black and with water allows and element of chance to enter the work and requires unhesitating, decisive decisions otherwise the water or paint will dry and the basic structure of the painting may be lost. Once the basic frame work for the painting is painted in black, I proceed to fill in the resulting shapes and areas with color. This is often the longest period of the painting process as I am constantly working and reworking the relationships between colors.

Minimal abstract gray winter painting by contemporary expressionist painter Ed Larson

I first said I wanted to be an artist in sixth grade during a career day at school. Art was always something I had some skill in and it was something that I enjoyed quite a bit. As I got older and entered high school art became a method for me to express and examine difficult emotions like grief and anger. Much of my work at that time could be described as expressionistic in that the primary focus of the work was expressing or evoking a particular emotion. Often my work depicted recognizable forms (often portraits) but forms that were garish in color and perhaps otherwise distorted for greater emotional impact.
I joined EFC because I have a strong desire to do something useful and of value with my artwork. I have spent a lot of time questioning the value and meaning of art, I think most artists have as well. I have come to believe that what is best about art is the way it connects us to something greater than ourselves. E. M. Forester wrote “To make us feel small in the right way is a function of art; men can only make us feel small in the wrong way.” Being of service to another human being or to a deserving cause puts us in our proper scale. To see things as they truly are, living in our proper scale, is to affirm and embody our own essential humanity. This faith and conviction grew out of my soto zen meditation practice. I have been sitting zazen (a type of Zen meditation) and practicing mindfulness since 2001.

In addition to EFC I am an active member of the ETTeam a group devoted to mutual promotion and support through the creation of treasuries on etsy. In my “real life” I volunteer with my Zen center’s prison outreach program, am a member of Avaaz and of Amnesty International.

I primarily support the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center http://cancer.med.unc.edu/ I also support Amnesty International, AVAAZ, Oxfam and PFADP (people of Faith Against the Death Penalty) I support UNC because it is a meaningful and important cause. My wife’s Father is a Cancer survivor, and I have a friend who is currently undergoing chemo, but mainly I support UNC because it does good work and saves lives, not because of a personal connection to cancer. My support for PFADP arose from my prison volunteer work.

Rare oil on linen self portrait of contemporary abstract painter Edward Larson

Etsy is a great way for me to display my artwork, connect to other people, and to occasionally generate a little income for the charities I support. Because Etsy fees are so low I am able to list my paintings and other artwork without worrying if they will sell and for prices near to what they would sell for in a gallery setting.

On the topic of our essential human nature and the place from which charity arises from I’d like to offer this quote:

“Although its light is wide and great, the moon is reflected even in a puddle an inch wide. The whole moon and the entire sky are reflected in dewdrops on the grass, or even in one drop of water… The depth of the drop is the height of the moon. Each reflection, however long or short its duration, manifests the vastness of the dewdrop, and realizes the limitlessness of the moonlight in the sky.” –Dogen Zenji(1200-1253)

All gifts honestly offered, no matter how we may perceive their quality, intention or size, reflect the entire moon and all the star strewn sky.

Please visit Ed’s etsy shop at branchingstreams.etsy.com