Allen Memorial Art Museum Purchases Work by Philip Koch
Philip Koch, Coke Ovens, Leetonia,
vine charcoal, 12 x 9 inches, 2017
Last week the Allen Memorial Art Museum at Oberlin College in Ohio purchased one of my works for their permanent collection. The Allen is widely regarded as one of the best college art museums in the country. Museum Director Andria Derstine made the selection of the above drawing from a number of my works on paper. The Allen was the biggest influence in my decision my Freshman year to drop my intended Sociology major and become a painter. It is deeply satisfying to see my art career come full circle and have my work enter the Museum.
It's an odd subject for a drawing- two gaping dark openings on an otherwise sun drenched hillside. These mysterious caves are long abandoned underground coke ovens. The subject seemed ripe with potential. The irregular black mouths of these caves suggest all sorts of possible meanings- some perhaps a bit eerie but mysteriously attractive at the same time. They're a ready symbol for the unconscious side of our minds- a place that while maybe unknowable is still the source not only our dreams but also so much of our creativity. I've always found myself attracted to landscapes with moody and unsettling elements in them.
These coke ovens were part of the once widespread coal mining in Northeast Ohio. They were laid out in rows- underground domed structures where locally mined coal was heated to extremely high temperatures to produce coke needed for steel making. Now in disrepair the ovens are slowly being grown over once again by nature. That suggestion of the passage of time is a big part of what I like in the drawing.
It is a piece based on my trip in summer of 2015 to the site of the coke ovens that were a favorite subject of the artist Charles Burchfield early in his career. They are in the tiny town of Leetonia near Burchfield's boyhood home in Salem, OH. When I served as the Artist in Residence for the Burchfield Penney Art Center in Buffalo, NY from 2015 - 2018 the museum curators, knowing my paintings, thought I'd be intrigued by Leetonia and suggested make the trip. They were right.
It's an odd subject for a drawing- two gaping dark openings on an otherwise sun drenched hillside. These mysterious caves are long abandoned underground coke ovens. The subject seemed ripe with potential. The irregular black mouths of these caves suggest all sorts of possible meanings- some perhaps a bit eerie but mysteriously attractive at the same time. They're a ready symbol for the unconscious side of our minds- a place that while maybe unknowable is still the source not only our dreams but also so much of our creativity. I've always found myself attracted to landscapes with moody and unsettling elements in them.
These coke ovens were part of the once widespread coal mining in Northeast Ohio. They were laid out in rows- underground domed structures where locally mined coal was heated to extremely high temperatures to produce coke needed for steel making. Now in disrepair the ovens are slowly being grown over once again by nature. That suggestion of the passage of time is a big part of what I like in the drawing.
It is a piece based on my trip in summer of 2015 to the site of the coke ovens that were a favorite subject of the artist Charles Burchfield early in his career. They are in the tiny town of Leetonia near Burchfield's boyhood home in Salem, OH. When I served as the Artist in Residence for the Burchfield Penney Art Center in Buffalo, NY from 2015 - 2018 the museum curators, knowing my paintings, thought I'd be intrigued by Leetonia and suggested make the trip. They were right.
Philip Koch working from a row of abandoned cole ovens
in the small town of Leetonia, OH, 2015
I began the drawing from direct observation with my easel set up at the mouth of several of the ovens near noon on a hot July day. Work on the drawing continued on and off in my Baltimore studio until I was satisfied with the overall composition.
As it is done in vine charcoal, a soft medium which smears easily, I finally had to re-draw the composition on a fresh piece of BFK Rives paper to regain the bright white highlights. This is the image that resulted.
