Kristina Nobleman

kristinanobleman.com | @kristinanobleman

Ephemeral terrain: In response to the recent wildfires in Napa, Kristina Nobelman creates hauntingly minimal landscapes made from textile fragments paired with torn and stained paper.

Kristina Nobleman Artist Statement:

While the California wildfires are spontaneous and precarious events, they are also now certain to come every year and so reliable that they have a nominated season. The disruption not only of the fires themselves, but also of the evacuations, power outages, and Red Alerts is extremely unsettling and has sadly become part of life for Northern Californians. Much of my work in recent years has been in response to these events and the feelings of uncertainty and fragility they provoke.

With the recent LNU and Glass fires in Napa County came a new body of work, entitled Kindling. This series of collages is composed of textile fragments coupled with torn, stained and printed papers, evocative of dry, brittle materials that are easily combustible and readily ignited. Some of the works are composed of piles of these materials sewn together into abstracted landscapes. Others are reductive in nature, stripped down to two or three components reminiscent of the charred bits and fragile remainders left in the aftermath of destruction. 

The Glass Fire was particularly devastating in our immediate surroundings, and my mother lost her home to the fire. Sorting through the ashes of her home, which was almost completely incinerated, I internalized how ephemeral the things we hold dear can be - the landscape around us, our homes, our possessions are all ready to be turned to dust at a moment’s notice. This series of work seeks to serve as an expression of that loss. 

Checklist:

1. Smolder, Textile fragment, sumi ink, washi paper, thread, 17” x 20”, 2020

2. Pyrocumulus, Textile fragment, monotype, sumi ink, gesso, washi paper, thread, 17” x 20”, 2020