Selected works from current year

Exploring Water

Water is never truly idle. It is life-giving to all beings - essential in its purest form. It connects us as a planet in our global community and is inside of every human body - regardless of ethnicity, gender, race, or religion. Water invigorates, yet soothes. The vastness of water welcomes and anoints, propels, generates power, and is increasingly precious as we respond to climate change. Water moves us forward as we paddle past each other without a glance. Immerse yourself and experience water through all senses. While water is a medium of consciousness, like AIR, it also transcends culture.
Also, check out this very cool video created by Kelly holt that supports the exhibit:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BzTffZ7BJYr/

Statement

There is often a significant disconnect in how we interact with our environments, both natural and human-made. We flip a switch, taking for granted that the lights will come on. The backstage of our society, it’s infrastructure, is often overlooked, even while directly experienced, it’s ubiquitousness blinding us to its impact. We harness the massive power of water as we direct the river, taming it to our bidding, creating energy while changing landscape and habitat through incredible feats of engineering. The structures themselves are compelling to me: their form, lines, and materiality; the immensity of the place they hold in our society, a contemplation I own as I paint these sites. I am interested in noticing these spaces, in feeling into the approach we have taken to control and harness, to claim power-over verses power-with our environment.

Working from photos and sketches at the start and using traditional materials (such as oil, wax, and graphite,) I begin with line. I build up and scrape away layers of the painting to contact the qualities of addition and decay; to explore the weathered surface. I use the act of mark making as a form of storytelling, suggestive of the backstories that read in the marks left by the natural elements and time.