New Exhibition: Drift – Drawings and mixed media by Bettina Harvey

The drawings in the Drift collection evoke the human anatomy—overlapping tissues that resist the process of decay. Each piece is centered on a white, unadorned background so that other media do not overshadow the driftwood’s strength. The focus on the wood insists on direct acknowledgment of the ideas of aging and degeneration, processes our culture frequently avoids. In this way, Drift offers an homage to age; it marks a refusal to allow the elderly or the process of aging to drift away into obscurity. Harvey’s driftwood drawings celebrate growing old; the pieces are like the gifts her father gave her at the end of his life.