With various media, I create works that address human and environmental themes of imbalance and regained equilibrium. This work includes painting, fibers, printmaking, photography, land art and Internet projects. Interdisciplinary collaborations have included Arroyo as Metaphor, an erosion abatement land art project on site in New Mexico, to Archaeology and Art collaborations in Scotland, New Zealand, and numerous workshops worldwide.
Using painting media, both the Atlantic Blues and the Whirlwind & the Lichen acrylics reflect my deep personal experiences of place that have been disrupted by ecological pressures. Atlantic Blues-Paintings from the Edge celebrate the ocean in all of its power and magnificence, but they also sing the blues about our abuses of it. Blue is the color of sadness and the ocean is as salty as tears. Since lichen grow only in unpolluted places, this work is a visualization of my wish fulfillment for clean urban air. With their spinning compositions and high key colors, the large scale Whirlwind paintings express my vertigo of discontent with environmental realities in the Western U.S., my second home.
Similarly, the Scent of Plumeria and the Acid Rain tree paintings are very personal landscapes about human and environmental loss, and the restorative effect of beauty.
In fiber arts works, The Jellies series is a celebration of the luminous beauty and ultimate endurance of that species within the context of ocean acidification. The Eight Brocades textiles are inspired by that ancient Chinese healing exercise of the same name that is believed to restore the body’s vital energy and balance. In The Sound of the Sea, and the Sea, My Bones lithographs, I utilize fine art printmaking to reflect my emotional engagement with raging seas and vanishing corals.
