Our collective experience of the last two years has reinforced my long-held belief that the most important aspect of our lives is our sense of connection.  We begin our lives connecting to our parents, our siblings and gradually extending those relationships outward to a greater world of friends, co-workers and others whom we encounter on this journey.  Most of all, we reach for mutually nourishing intimacy in partner relationships and this connection of love brings us hope and strength.

We are participants in and a part of the physical world we inhabit. Over time, we have lost that sense of connection, have all too often let ourselves be severed from the world of which we are a part.  My work expresses my fear of a lost connection with each other, with our environment and a hope that we will re-discover all our forms of connection.

My Techniques

It has been my habit to experiment with materials and their visual qualities.  I raise egg chickens, keep bees, plant fruit trees, garden extensively, coach swimming and work diligently in my studio.  All of this has found it’s way into my work.

I experimented with transfer of digital images and discovered a paper that would take print and be light enough to fix to my canvases. I used that technique on “Beescape” to create a visual foundation upon which I could build.  I have also used it in small areas in the larger works.  All photographs that are used are mine. I constructed photo settings for the three larger photograph pieces upon which I have written relevant text.  The chickens have contributed eggshells that texture some of the works, the bees have contributed wax that binds many of the three dimensional parts together (as in “Love”).

My rural property is 200 acres and was once a cattle farm.  Bone, wire, rusted farm implements that I found have been incorporated in some works as well as dried plants from my gardens. I love the energy created from re-purposing what has or could be discarded. “Intersectionalities” is painted on what was a working tabletop in my studio.  I would mix my paints directly on the surface, jot thoughts and notes about what I was doing.  Over a year, it became a time record upon which I then built my painting.

In clearing land to make hiking trails, I took down some old poplar.  The cross sections are the wood blocks for my prints.  The thumb prints are of people with whom I am closely connected and who are also closely connected to the environment in a loving and nurturing way.  I hope to extend this series into a larger body of work connecting the prints to more people who are environmental activists and