DEAD MAN DRAWING. Illustrator Ned Gannon sketches in his office at UW-Eau Claire with the company of his life drawing teaching aid.

Ned Gannon describes himself as living two lives: his life working as an illustrator and art professor at the UW-Eau Claire, and the life of an artist, creating work that is often political and expresses concern for things that are devalued by society. Being an individual with many interests, Gannon used wolves as a funnel to select pieces for his upcoming exhibition at the Volume One Gallery. The exhibition is titled TINAW: Drawings, Prints, and Other Acts of Nature.  The term TINAW is an acronym for “This Is Not A Wolf,” meaning that it is impossible for the works exhibited to replace the reality of wolves, what happens in nature, and man’s relationship to nature.

The exhibition shows a collection that Gannon has worked on for approximately two years. Gannon started to build this series when he decided to return to drawing as a means of re-energizing his artwork, since he had been painting for a long time. He chose wolves as his subject matter because he had always been interested in them, and he ideally wanted to put more thought into the drawing process than his subject matter.

In two years of work on this series he created more than 40 drawings. Gannon believes that, as an artist, self-editing is important. He says that you have to be OK with making mistakes and taking risks to produce work that you are happy with, as well as being OK with destroying work that is unsuccessful. Using this process, he chose to keep about 25 of the 40 drawings for this series, building a tight body of work that he plans to continue focusing on. Most of the pieces in the show deal with wolves and wolf ecology, expressing honest images without demonizing or idealizing the animals.  

A majority of the exhibition consists of black-and-white drawings with the exception of several color paintings. Gannon displays the use of many different mediums to depict his imagery. Although he is invested in exploring black-and-white drawings, he is not limiting himself to specific mediums. A mix of traditional materials such as gouache, oil and acrylic paint, India ink, charcoal, graphite, and colored pencil were used to create the artworks.  Digitally manipulated artwork will also make an appearance in the show.

Connecting details from images he has seen, things he has read, and personal experiences is a way that Gannon finds inspiration to create art. Dragon Tapestry, a painting that will be displayed in Gannon’s exhibition, was influenced by medieval tapestries he viewed at The Cloisters museum in New York that depict the hunting of unicorns. Dragon Tapestry uses the idea that people feel the need to hunt and dominate, even when the things they are chasing are not real.

Currently, Gannon has three paintings displayed at the International Wolf Center in Ely, Minn. The paintings depict the early morning, afternoon, and night travels of OR-7, a male gray wolf also known as Journey that is being electronically tracked throughout Oregon and California.  

To see more work by Ned Gannon visit NedGannon.com.

TINAW: Drawings, Prints, and Other Acts of Nature by Ned Gannon will be on Display at the Volume One Gallery at The Local Store, 205 N. Dewey St., from Friday, March 1, to Tuesday, April 30. An opening reception will be 6:30-8:30pm March 1.