Artist Statement

 

Carla Fontecchio was born in 1985 in Erie, Pennsylvania. She received her BFA in drawing from the Cleveland Institute of Art in 2009, and worked as an intern at the Morgan Art of Papermaking Conservatory from 2009-2010. She currently lives and works in Cleveland, Ohio.

Fontecchio’s drawings are careful depictions of plant and insect specimens from a collection that has amassed since childhood. It is priority that each specimen has expired and dried before it is removed from its natural environment. The drawings are composed on handmade paper blends of flax, hemp and abaca, produced locally by the Morgan Art of Papermaking Conservatory. Ink is mixed in individual batches and a fine point nib is used to achieve detail and maintain an organic line.

Completed studies are isolated on the paper’s blank ground in order to properly display the intricate nature of each subject. This allows the surrounding space to form a visual quiet, providing a prolonged window in which to view them. The specimens become suspended on the page, as though they were relics.

Fontecchio uses these techniques, accompanied by a curiosity and reverence for her subjects to document and elevate this collection.