The Salina Township Series

Volume 1

2004—2010

- C. Shoup

“I grew up in Salina Township, Illinois. Specifically in Bonfield,

a small town surrounded by farm fields. As a boy I was drawn

to the exploration and study of the outlying wood patches,

ditches, creeks and the town’s abandoned stone quarries (all

while being a disinterested learner inside the grade school’s

brick walls). After high school I grew wings and flew to

Chicago. There I studied art and cultural diversity. Seven

years later I returned to Salina Township, and what did I find?

“Nothing was as I left it. I had new eyes. I grabbed my

camera and began to capture important organic structures

and the terribly important colors strewn everywhere in my

native landscape, and I pursued different ways of presenting

what I found.

“This series contains my first six years worth of exploration as

an ecologist and artist.”

Bonfield stone quarries; Salina Township road;

2nd bridge ditch; Horse Creek

2004

Corn #1

16” x 24” (2004)

Collection of Dave and Sue St. Germaine

2004

Corn #2

16” x 24” (2004)

2004

Corn #3

16” x 24” (2004)

2004

Salina Storybook

16” x 36” (2004)

Collection of Todd and Jackie Snedecor

2004

Seven Lines of Salina Township

16” x 36” (2004)

Collection of Jacob Joubert

2004

Ode to my Father

16” x 36” (2004)

2005

Guthrie’s Vision—skewed

8” x 12” (2005)

2005

In the absence of sound; sound

16” x 28” (2005)

2006

Stones

16” x 24” (2006)

Collection of John Shoup

2006

Approaching Bridge Out

Left panel of 3 “book frames” stitched together with leather cord. 10” x 22” (2006)

2006

Bridge Out

Middle panel of 3 “book frames” stitched together with leather cord. 10” x 22” (2006)

2006

Burnt House

Right panel of 3 “book frames” stitched together with leather cord. 10” x 22” (2006)

Diary of Salina Township; 11.8.2006 “I took a day off work (from teaching

inner city 5th graders) and traveled with my camera bag, coffee, some

apples and 12 roles of film to Salina Township. My intention was to drive

the square miles and photograph all day. The earliest photo I took is

mounted in the upper left corner of the frame.

“I wandered about the township for the rest of the morning, the

afternoon and the evening. I would stop, explore and photograph. It was

a fantastic day.

“My very last photo at dusk is in the frame’s lower right corner.

“One photographic part at a time was selected (from over 250 choices)

and cut for a slide mount. Each mount was riveted with four grommets. I

did this between January and February, 2007. In March I designed the

frame. In April I sewed 112 slides mount into place. I finished in May. All

together it took over 120 hours. It was a response to Amanda questioning

me if I was ever going to create something I couldn’t finish in one night.”

Diary of Salina Township; 11.8.2006

27” x 42”

(109) 35mm photographs; hand-colored slide mounts; metal grommets; waxed cotton string;

Salina Township sand, grass seeds, Native American arrowhead; masonite; solid oak frame

2009

Purple Asters, Rock Pile

16” x 24” (2009)

Collection of Vickie Romein

2009

Sun Spots; Bridge

16” x 24” (2009)

“This painting is about a memory.

“Several of us would tramp about the wet, marshy sumps

where the woods held water, searching for things that

would not bite or sting us. At the height of summer, the

heat would concentrate in the brackish molecular stew.

Decayed leaves would disintegrated with every step,

sending upward mushroom plumes of particles that turned

the water brown while our feet sank into the silt.

“I had a habit of looking through the canopy to take quick

glances at the sun, because I liked the way effervescent

sunspots would appear when my salty eyebrow sweat

mixed with my vision.”

2010

Sun Spots; Swamp Oak; Cattails

24” x 24” (2010)

Oil and acrylic on oak panel; recycled kitchen countertop sample tabs; walnut frame

Rock Pile/Purple Asters

24” x 24” (2010)

Available through www.gallery180.com

2010

View from a Grain Bin

24” x 24” (2010)

2nd Bridge Ditch

24” x 24” (2010)

2010

Horse Creek, November

24” x 24” (2010)

2010

Fields

24” x 24” (2010)

Bonfield Stone Quarries

24” x 24” (2010)