In November 2022, I was invited to The Center for Connection + Collaboration in Asheville, North Carolina, for a one-week residency. The residency ‘in-officially’ kicked off with the CCC-AVL’s annual Bonfire Night celebration on November 5. for the English, this date and the tradition of Bonfire Night is associated with the failed bombing of the House of Parliament in 1605 (AKA ‘The Gunpowder Plot’) and a fella named ‘Guy Fawkes’. At CCC-AVL, Bonfire Night is a community celebration of bonfires, music, and art performances. On that night, children in England go door-to-door collecting a penny for the guy; I collected the remnants of the bonfire, charcoal from the sticks and twigs gathered in the CCC-AVL’s garden, the raw material to make drawings.

Because the charcoal was not intentionally produced for drawing, it was always hit or miss in terms of what it would do when it touched the surface. But its silvery-grey was softer and more transparent than most vine charcoals, and, with patience, it could be layered quite nicely. Still, it was slow to work with and dusty. I haven’t drawn with charcoal in decades, and my studio isn’t set up for it.

In early Summer, Claire Elizabeth Barratt, Founder and Director of the CCC-AVL and Cilla Vee Life Arts, a cross-disciplinary arts organization, announced Cilla Vee Life Arts would be collaborating with NYC area artists between mid-August and mid-September at the ChaShaMa Gallery space in the Port Authority of NY & NJ Bus Terminal, and invited me to stop by on Saturday, September 9 to draw. Claire and I collaborated on a presentation of our MFA thesis projects, incorporating ‘RAW MATERIAL’ too. We continue to collaborate on an online blog project, https://www.re-cultivatingcompassion.com, which featured the project at the Port Authority. Of course, I would be there; what would be better material to work with than the remnants of Bonfire Night.

Only the thought of drawing with charcoal that could be so unpredictable in a space that was also equally unpredictable wasn’t very appealing. Previously, in the guise of one of my personas, Petra Nimm, and using watercolors, I had drawn Claire performing as Cilla Vee at X-Fest in Holyoke, MA. The fluid medium worked well to capture her movement and the environment. I decided to turn the charcoal into ink and draw with it.

Below are thirteen drawings I made that day on the second floor of the south building of the Port Authority of NY & NJ Bus Terminal. It was a wonderful experience to make the ink, watch what was happening in the space, draw, and talk with the people who stopped by to watch what was happening, ask questions, and share their thoughts. It was another way of experiencing art in NYC, in a space I have traveled through, stood in line, and waited frequently over the past 35 years. However, I have never considered it a space to make or engage with art.