A Walk with Cajal among his Canopy of Trees

¡Feliz cumpleaños, Cajal!  (1 de mayo de 1852)  Hoy tomemos el tiempo para disfrutar de los placeres simples del sol, el aire fresco y los árboles. Y a todos, espero que tengan buena salud y seguridad durante este tiempo inusual.

Dawn Hunter, Cajal editing a student's thesis, La Residencia de Estudiantes, marker, pen and ink on paper, 11"x 14"

Artist Statement, general:  I work in my studio everyday, and drawing in my sketchbook is an important aspect to my daily routine.  It is how I know and relate to the world.  Some days I make one drawing, other days I make as many as ten.  These drawings often are of my immediate surroundings, like the landscape, or of people I know.  There are too many of these drawings to post on my web site.  I routinely post a sampling of these on drawings on my blog:  dawnhunterart.blogspot.com.

Aside from my sketchbook routine, I engage in long-term projects that manifest as a thematic series.  I am drawn to compelling subject matter, and subjects that have a strong identity or familiarity to the masses within culture.  Details found within the information, facts, and references are mutually exclusive from artistic expression, interpretation and content conceptualization.  There are many tellings/retellings of Cinderella.  The basic information is the same in each story. What is important in each retelling are the details and the context in which the subject has been reconceptualized- How is the same content focused differently?  What details remain"  How are the details organized?  How do new ideas sit next to one another to generate a new perception of experience rich in its own unique and highly identifiable textures?  Reconceptualization is important because that is the tapestry of insight that makes the retelling of Cinderella significant or not.

I, therefore, find it important to begin researching new subjects within my art through a sense of intuition and inference while examining facts.  Through the creative process, I like to investigate, discover, reconsider, and explore.  I find that by doing so, I can expand a dialogue and delve into new territory I, therefore, find it important to begin researching new subjects within my art through a sense of intuition and inference while examining facts.  Through the creative process, I like to investigate, discover, reconsider, and explore.  I find that by doing so, I can expand a dialogue and delve into new territory.

Statement about research in Madrid:  Aside from researching the Cajal Legacy while in Madrid for my Fulbright Fellowship, I would regularly walk and draw the routes that Cajal walked during his lifetime.  My goal was to view the environment as much as I could through his eyes or perspective within his day to day routine.  I deliberately selected trees that were in existence at his home, his places of work, Atocha, and Retiro Park during his life time. 

Dawn Hunter, Velazquez Paseo del Prado, pen, ink and acrylic on paper, 11" x 14"

Dawn Hunter, Monumento a Ramón y Cajal, Retiro, marker, pen and ink on paper, 11" x 14"

Dawn Hunter, Sunday Morning Meditation in Atocha, marker, pen and ink on paper, 11" x 14"

Dawn Hunter, Anthropology Museum, Atocha, marker, pen and ink on paper, 11" x 14"

Dawn Hunter, Retiro Park Evening Walk, pen, ink and acrylic on paper, 11" x 14"

Dawn Hunter, Retiro Park Evening Walk, II, pen, ink and acrylic on paper, 11" x 14

Dawn Hunter, View from the Front door of the Cajal Home, Madrid, pen, ink and acrylic on paper, 11" x 14"

Dawn Hunter, Drawing of the trees across from the Cajal home in Madrid, marker and pen on paper, 11" x 14"

Dawn Hunter, Drawing of Retiro park near the Cajal home in Madrid, Spain, marker and pen on paper, 11" x 14"

Dawn Hunter, Re-creation of Cajal's school photo badge and a "selfie" he took after returning to Spain from a tour as a military doctor in Cuba.  The plant foliage was drawn from the observation of plants that are at the Instituto Cajal, Madrid, marker and pen on paper, 11" x 14

Dawn Hunter, Drawing of the Observatory across from the Cajal home in Madrid, marker and pen on paper, 11" x 14

Dawn Hunter, Paseo del Prado, pen, ink and acrylic on paper, 11" x 14"

Dawn Hunter, Cajal's hands, microscope, pyramidal neuron, and mini self-portrait from his sketchbook juxtaposed with his retirement statement and design details from his Nobel Prize - the photographic source imagery was originally black and white.  Color has been added and the color of the Nobel Prize design details has been altered, marker and pen on paper, 11" x 14"