The Pine & Roses Editorial Collective has discussed featuring more art in our publication, and are happy to present these pieces by local DSA member, Maine Mural producer, and artist of all things natural, Dylan Cookson. We offer these as both a New Year gift, but also as a notice that we are open to receiving more art submissions, be they visual, written, auditory, or more. If you would like to submit your art, please email pineandrosesme@gmail.com. Below is an introduction by the artist, followed by his art.
Happy Holidays, Comrades.
We have faced many challenges in the past year, and in the coming year many more are to come. The problems facing the working class world-wide, and the rising climate crisis become more urgent each year.
However, we cannot face the challenges to come without the occasional break. We all need to take time now and again to focus on those things that make life worth living. The winter holidays are a perfect opportunity to take a brief break and focus on the good and the beautiful. If for no other reason than to remind ourselves why our work is so necessary.
Science, philosophy, engineering, and the arts are four things unique to the human animal. Many believe these pursuits are central to the most fulfilling kind of human life, often reserved for those wealthy enough to afford leisure. Under capitalism, the fullest potential of science, engineering, and art are often undermined by the pressures to commodify them. Philosophy is often neglected or misrepresented for the sake of keeping the working class unquestioning in their toil.
For some time, many of us have wished to share the art of DSA comrades in this publication. A way of reminding us all of what we are working to accomplish, a society in which every human being has a chance to pursue the development of their full potential, free from the constraints of constant toil and bureaucratic or managerial imposition.
I am happy to contribute my own art to this Winter offering. Today, I am sharing excerpts from my own nature journal, in which I work to intimately understand and appreciate the natural world and enlighten myself as to its workings.
Caption 1: 2022-07-03 – White Clover (Trifolium repens) While not a part of my nature journal, per se, this is nevertheless an example of my efforts to use art as a way of learning about nature inside and out. This white clover was on the shore of the Sasanoa River at Neuasset Park, in Woolwhich, ME.
Caption 2: 2020 – Coyote (Canis latrans) – By far, animal skulls are my favorite subject for artistic study in my Nature Journal. In 2020, I found a damaged skull from a coyote on the side of the Colonel Stairs Road, near the town line between Cushing and Waldoboro, ME. These two images are my attempts to draw the skull from differing angles.
Caption 3: 2022-11-15 – Sugar Maple (Acer saccharum) I found this sugar maple leaf at Davis Memorial Cemetery in Lewiston, ME last year. I was interested in how this leaf was mottled with black spots and two colors on the same leaf.
Caption 4: Red Oak (Quercus Rubra) – This series of drawings are studies of red oak leaves I have collected in various places throughout Maine.
