Conor Stechschulte graduated from the Maryland Institute College of Art in 2008 and embarked on a cross-country bicycle trip from the east coast in Virginia to the west coast in Oregon.  In each state, he photographed a “woods walk” where he would find a patch of woods usually somewhere close off the side of the road, walk in a straight line (going from east to west), and take a photograph every 3 to 5 steps.  Since coming home, he edited the photos down to one walk (consisting of anywhere from 10 to 16 images) per state and has begun to translate them into drawings.

Conor adds, “The drawings are done side by side, two at a time on pieces of 24 x 19″ bristol board.  Each drawing is about 9 x 6.5”.  There are 134 images to draw for the final Silence Country book, so going at the pace I am right now, it’ll probably be done somewhere around 2018.  Haw haw.”

This particular set is from Kentucky, outside of Bardstown. It was photographed right near an anonymous graveyard dating back to the civil war.

Conor underwent a similar walking/photographing/drawing process for a zine he did in 2008 titled “The Spirit World.”

Conor is a member of Closed Caption Comics, he plays in the band Witch Hat, and he lives in and helps run “Open Space” gallery in Baltimore.

(click on images to make them larger)