Positive Feedback Loops in Wood Planks

I spent many contemplative hours drawing planks of wood inside the belly of the world's last surviving wooden whale ship at the Mystic Seaport. As I was drawing ship's interior undergoing restoration (old planks are taken out, new planks are put in), I was thinking about healing and regeneration. Regeneration is essentially the creation of a positive feedback loop: making an old whaling vessel seaworthy again gives it a new meaning in today's context. 

I kept looking at these drawings over time, they held true to me for an unknown reason. Until I looked up meanings of "positive feedback loop":

"Feedback Loops can enhance or buffer changes that occur in a system.

 Positive feedback loops enhance or amplify changes; this tends to move a system away from its equilibrium state and make it more unstable."

"Positive feedback is used in digital electronics to force voltages away from intermediate voltages into '0' and '1' states."

And...back to looking at these drawings. Now they become abstract illustrations of binary code and how information is encoded in digital electronics. Or maybe it's my attempt at understanding how events are encoded within the wood fibers as the tree grows. Thinking through the hand makes new connections happen. I'll keep looking...

Breathing new life into the boat

P.S. The installation of the upcoming gallery show at the Mystic Seaport's Museum of America and The Sea has officially commenced on Monday, April 16th. I'm one of the 24 participating artists. More info here: dalveromystic.com