Tike Elkins; work in progress: leaves, mineral paints prepared and foraged by the artist on Kalapuya lands. Photo by Kelly Moody.
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TILKE ELKINS
Artist and researcher Tilke Elkins seeks out landscapes that hold palimpsests of human presence and history, where she records conflicting impressions of both neglect and the sublime. The pigments she uses, made from botanical, mineral, and waste stream-derived sources, serve as signposts for endemic events, both personal and cultural. Subtle on-site manipulation of found objects and ephemeral surfaces such as leaves, driftwood and human refuse suggest the presence of an observer, both alienated and enraptured.
The varying moods of landscapes, activated by light and weather, and the movements required to explore the heights, depths and substances of place — climbing trees, crawling through undergrowth, scaling boulders, sinking palms into mud and snow, swimming underwater with eyes open — can activate inner transformation often inaccessible in contemporary urban culture. This exploration of continued physical intimacy with the non-human world, and the catalysts it brings, is a focus of Elkins’ research, large-scale paintings and site-specific installations.
Tilke first began to use wild pigments in the late 1990’s, when she fell in love with red ochre and chlorophyll ink. After a long period of exploration, in 2008 she removed all synthetic pigments from her studio practice and began to paint exclusively with botanical, mineral and human waste stream-derived pigments. In April 2019, Tilke founded Wild Pigment Project, an online hub which brings together the global community of people from diverse backgrounds who study and work with wild pigments. Tilke gives regular workshops on pigments and land stewardship, and is currently developing a teacher-training program to bring Wild Pigment Project education to places of learning nationally and internationally. She is one of three co-organizers for the Pigments Revealed Symposium 2021, and curator for the concurrent online exhibition.
Site Specific work-in-progress, Tilke Elkins. Photo by Tilke Elkins.
Squirrels, reibekite on cardboard, by Tilke Elkins. Photo by Tilke Elkins.
Who are These Woods, mineral and botanical pigments on plywood (walnut ink pictured here), by Tilke Elkins. Photo by Tilke Elkins.