This small body of large paintings was completed while in transition, moving from Seattle back to the deciduous forests of Pennsylvania. The conversation became different in this landscape, where nature is quieter, or less grand than that of the Pacific Northwest.
THESE WHISPERS, THESE TELLINGS (2021)
“The work in this show is a selection of paintings and sculptures from the last year, but, with sound, the show also honors the passage of ancestral knowledge. Through the work, I consider my relationship with the forces of nature and the spirits of this unceded land. I have thought about what rises from grief, the potential of it. From death. From destruction. The exhale. Or perhaps, it is more so the pause between breaths.” September 2021
This body of work was painted during the pause of the pandemic. The space the pandemic created lead to many hours of contemplation within the landscape and in the studio. The Rock Portals, or portraits, perhaps in hindsight, reflect the isolation of that year. But these paintings were made in celebration of these ancient fragments, rather than lamentation.
THE RISE AND FALL OF STONE (2020)
“My work revolves around ancestral history, storytelling, and ecological concern in an exploration of memory and landscape. The paintings reference specific landscapes, but I work to depict each place somewhere between reality and memory. In the landscapes, white space meets fields of muted color through shattered lines of graphite, suggesting a continuous cycle of transformation.” January 2020
“At first glance, these landscape paintings depict a beautiful scene, but, with time, the image begins to fracture, graphite lines wind through the contours of the landscape, breaking up the scene as they intersect with swatches of color. Although I think at least a hint of crisis is important in contemporary landscapes, my intention is not to create an overly dramatic fragmentation or sense of falling apart. I hope this disintegration of the image, this labyrinth through stone, pulls the viewer into a contemplation of the land and their being within the land.” March 2019
My wire drawings extrude the contours of the terrain, forming a fragile, interdependent framework.