Patrick Howlett

filter, 2020

mixed media on Chemex filter

11 1/4 x 12” (28.5 x 30.5 cm)

I started saving used coffee filters because I liked the stains that remained after my morning coffee. When the spring shut down began, I started making pour over drawings with the filters using ink, watercolour, gouache, and eventually acrylic around the edges, which added flexibility to the heavy tannins of the coffee stains. The folds of the filter made the results hard to predict, as did the accumulation of layers and the very porous nature of the paper.  The process connects with an interest in using filters and ideas of absorption and layering found in other recent work.

- Patrick Howlett



To coincide with the run of texting the humours at the gallery, new works in the series will be uploaded to this site Wednesday through Saturday.

50% of each sale will be donated to the Toronto Prisoner’s Rights Project. Link to their site: https://www.torontoprisonersrightsproject.org