Artistic Renderings of the Arborglyphs
Black Wax Rubbings
The following is an excerpt from a published interview with Phillip and Jean Earl conducted by Joxe Mallea-Olaetxe on April 19, 2002:
J M-0: How and when did you discover the aspen carvings of the sheep herders?
P E: We discovered them during an exhibit of aspen drawings at the University of Nevada, Reno [Phillip is referring to the embellished drawings of Frances Wallace and Hans Reiss, which were exhibited in 1969]. They had a little map of the aspen groves there, and we decided to go out and see if we could find some.
J E: If those hikers [Wallace and Reiss] hadn't found these and put that exhibit up, and, we hadn't seen it, we probably wouldn't have known about it either. We just happened to be there ... it was interesting. ... So we began reading, studying, and learning about Basques to get into this, and then we put together a slide show.
J M-0: What made you decide to use your technique to record the carvings, rather than say, a camera?
J E: We tried to take pictures, but some of the carvings were so big that you could not get the total picture with the camera [in one shot]. We wanted something that went around the'tree to get the total image. The [rubbing] material will go around the tree, and you can pull it tight-you cannot do that with paper. . . . We had seen how they [Wallace & Reiss] had done the rubbings, the tracings, and when we got to the grove, the actual carving was so different. So we decided to take some clear plastic up and trace, and that didn't turn out very well. All of the sudden it occurred [to me] that there was a scar there [on the bark], and we could do a "rubbing." So we took some fabric up, did a rubbing, and worked, and that is what we have been doing ever since.
J M-0:
What materials are needed to do a rubbing?
J E: We used a muslin, a heavy muslin, and through the years I have learned to use a lighter-weight muslin, and just recently I have started using rice paper, which is ok for the small ones, and it is better when the scar is not very pronounced. And we started out using charcoal, as a matter of fact, the first time we did a rubbing we used a keno pencil, one of those wax pencils. Eventually we got some black rubbing wax, [and] we have used that ever since.
J M-0: Have you perfected your technique?
J E: I do most of the rubbings. Phillip helps me stretch the material; he is tall... Yes, I think the rubbings we do now are better than the ones we did earlier. I have learned to get a sharper, clearer image. At first we used charcoal, but it is not as dark as rubbing wax, and it smears. After we finish the rubbing, while it is still on the tree, we spray it [the fabric] with a fixative so it doesn't smear. Then the fabric can be folded or whatever [without damage to the rubbing].
J M-0: How long does it take you to get a rubbing from a tree?
J E: It depends. Part of it is to get to the grove, finding the groves. Because we had no directions, we just went out and looked. If it is a small one [carving], you can do it maybe in twenty minutes. If it is a large one, it can take up to four hours.
J M-0: When did you start making rubbings?
J E: It was 1970.
J M-0: Which carvings are more difficult to trace?
J E: The ones that the tree has scarred the carving, but the hardest are letters, the writing, unless it is in block letter form.
Philip and Jean EarlView these rubbings
View the 1/13/80 newspaper article about an exhibit of the rubbings held at the Norfolk Gallery.