Field Notes 2020: Mike & Laura Bartunek

June 2020: Week 1

Father and daughter Mike and Laura Bartunek are in residence at Bloedel Reserve during June 2020. They are the first Creative Residents to be able to be onsite at Bloedel Reserve since our recent closure due to COVID-19.

Architects and visual artists, they have generously agreed to share the sketches and paintings that came from their first week on the Reserve, as well as their musings as the days rolled by.

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Day 1

Laura: Well, Dad. What will you paint while you are here?
Mike: My idea is to focus on reflections what I’m thinking is a series of painting where the horizon line is high
on the paper – I want to change the importance and focus on the water not the landscape…
Laura: It’s a good idea. Reflections. And very appropriate given this moment in your life…
Mike: And what will you do?
Laura: My idea? Well. Drawing for me has always been investigatory. That is, I’m always using drawing as a means of researching or understanding a place.
So, you’re focusing on reflections – big vistas, big views, how things are working holistically in a moment. I’m interested in looking at the minutiae of the landscape. I want to get into the details and really understand how a few plants work… and I love the idea of referencing traditional botanical drawings and pushing that realm of illustration…
Mike: I like that idea and you sound interested, which is the most important. The passion.

Day 2

(After a genial argument about drawing )
Laura: You are rather stubborn dad.
Mike: Well, you have to be stubborn if you have ideas.

Day 3

Laura: What enlightenments did you have today while drawing?
Mike: It was a beautiful morning. No enlightenments. Just enjoyment.
Laura: Being out in the landscape and drawing – is it different from drawing in the studio?
Mike: I don’t know yet. But that’s what I hope to find out.
Laura: I’ve heard it said that one should always draw on site rather than from images. I don’t believe that. I like to work from images. I like to go to a site, collect and study. Then work from photos – because drawing for me is selective. It’s not about capturing an image. It’s about creating one you don’t need it to reflect exactly
what you saw…
Mike: ….I never do…..
Laura: …and in a way nature becomes a catalyst for drawing…
Mike: …when I draw I edit in your mind, minimalize down to the instance. I draw from my memory even when I’m looking at the view… You know, Gauguin said you should paint from memory, because that’s what art is… your interpretation.

Day 4

(Between sips of tea and words exchanges over style in architecture)
Mike: There is no beauty in conformity.

Day 5

Laura: Yesterday we spoke of how the landscape might inspire our work. But how does our own personal interested in design influence how we view the landscape?
I’ll go first… I tend towards the peculiar in design. I’m drawn to moments of quirkiness or unusual ways of thinking about how buildings engage with ‘a site. The poet Charles Baudelaire once said that “strangeness is a necessary ingredient in beauty” and I think that is true of my design work and the projects I admire. And I find here (at the Bloedel) I am seeking moments of the unusual in this landscape — be it the tree fungus, the moss spores, the stench of the may apple. So perhaps my design eye does influence how I see the landscape. And you? Does your design eye influence how you see this place?
Mike: (long pause) You have a good sense of what you are going for in your professional work… But me… I’m not trying to put that (design) into this. My concept is about reflections – thinking about moments from before – from my childhood – before I was trained to think a certain way as a designer. I’m thinking about Wyatt (grandbabies) and their drawings. Thinking about how to do things — how to be more abstract in my work… but I can’t…
Laura: Well, you’re a realist. So yeah. That’s gonna be hard…
Mike: I’m trying to be more abstract but I just want to put a duck in the water.
Laura: You’ve lost your grit. (She smiles)
(An argument ensues around ornamentation, choochkies [sic], and NC Wyeth vs Andrew Wyeth and who was the real artist)
Mike: How can anyone define what art is?
(End of conversation)

Day 6

Mike: Always you walk thru this place, but you never sit. I’ve been in this spot for hours…..
Laura: It’s wonderful to linger. The creatures take you into their confidence.