
17th Street, 1969 to 1970
Pen and ink on paper
18 1⁄2 in x 24 5⁄8 in
Private collection
In 1969-70, while she was in Puerto Rico, the artist began a series of drawings of places in Columbus, going back in time to her childhood. The works, Schoolyard: Beatty Center and 17th Street are intense and dense drawings.... The relative lack of color and vacant stares of hollow-eyed women and children trying to connect with the outside world makes this drawing a poignant document that is both personal and public. Only the mother on the right seems to be content and focused on her baby. The numerous stairs leading upward or turning into Solomonic columns give this what is in some respects an ultra-realistic work another kind of reality. (Nill, A., in Symphonic Poem, 2002, Columbus Museum of Art, p. 35.)