b'Lynne Woods TurnerVariations on a ThemeCharlie TatumIts easy to think of drawing as a collection of marks made on an empty background. The Portland, Oregon, based artist Lynne Woods Turner challenges this assumption by looking to the paper itself to dictate her minimalist, geometric forms. Turners lines are careful and exacting, responding to existing folds, creases, and smudges on found paper of various hues, thicknesses, and sheens. 1She embraces these discrepancies, which someone else might con-sider imperfections, to create systems for exploring shape and perception. Turner considers her drawings studies, or exercisesnot for another yet-to-be-created artwork, as is often assumed of sketches. Instead, she sees them as finished works in their own right, part of a meditative practice in which the artist, through both drawing and painting, continually reconsiders a vocabulary of recurring forms and techniques to inspire viewers to look more closely.For an untitled 2013 series, Turner drew in pencil on different papers from around the world found in antique shops and given to her by friends and colleagues. Often employing repur-posed scraps from processes like bookbinding, Turners works are small; these twenty-one square drawings are just three inches across. Some of the papers she worked with are nearly translucent, inspiring Turner to apply red colored pencil to the reverse, adding a pink glow thats visible on the other side. The muted palette here is limited to soft reds, thin black lines, and the papers natural yellowy-beiges, suggesting art-making as a process of quiet contem-plation, not bombastic declaration. Turner worked on many of the compositions simulta-neously, coming back to revisit and revise earlier drawings as the series progressed. They are restrained, a set of symmetrical mutations of faceted, polygonal shapes. Angular and bell-like outlines are sometimes filled with delicate dots and other times left skeletal and open. In looking at all these drawings together, two discrete scalloped forms seemingly shift through tiny modifications into the ovular shape of a world map.While representation is not Turners goal, her works suggest a range of referencestextile patterns, body parts, the horizon line, flowers, Art Deco details, architectural blueprintswhile avoiding exact definition in favor of something more expansive. These same motifs find their way into her paintings on linen and cheesecloth, which likewise present exacting 92'