Art reception May 12 for director Tim Erskine's Circlism work

Emissary director Tim Erskine comes from a family of avid hobby photographers dating back to Fred Erskine of Jacksonport, who took many historic photos of Door County after the turn of the last century.

Born in Indiana, Tim grew up in a suburb of Chicago with an artist mother, nuclear physicist father, and five talented siblings. Tim is a painter, photographer, film director, and composer as well as an engineer with many medical patents. He moved to Door County from Utah in 2007 with his wife and co-producer in their multi-media company Night Sky Ventures, Holly Erskine.

Quark I. Acrylic and Pen & Ink 20 x 30 in.

The paintings in this show are in a style that Tim calls “circlism” because he uses an HP pen plotter that mechanically moves an actual pen filled with ink back-and-forth over moving paper. It draws beautiful, black lines that somehow capture the authenticity of hand drawing.

The paintings begin on the computer where Tim overlays circles to define all the boundaries and edges of the subject. The circles are then sent to the plotter. The paper must be suitable to run through the pen plotter and be compatible with both ink and acrylic airbrush color but not likely to deteriorate from applying and lifting frisket--a sticky masking material.

Cropped Detail of Reclining Nude in Lunar Orbit. Acrylic and Pen & Ink 36 x 58 in.

Transparent acrylic color is applied with an airbrush over the ink lines. Every hard boundary line of color is created with a mask of some kind. Mistakes are forever. Since the paint is on top of the lines, a mistake in the paint cannot be fixed without ruining the lines underneath.

Tim's work is on exhibit the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Door County's gallery, 10341 Water Street, Ephaim, WI, from now until May 31. Gallery hours are 1-3 PM, Monday, Wednesday and Friday, or by appointment. For more information call 920-854-7559.

An artist reception will take place at the UUFDC Friday, May 12 from 4-6 pm.

Written by Estella Lauter