May 2024
What do you make?
Lately, I make drawings, rubbings, and paintings. Most of the work is abstract, and I have a practice of representational drawings, too. Whether monochrome or multi-colored, the images are made on paper, canvas, or panels and hang on interior walls. They range in size from 3 x 3 inches up to 48 x 36 inches. Most of the work is around 12 x 9 inches or smaller.
How do you make these things, and how long does it take?
I build shapes and tones using repeated series of lines, marks, or gestures, leaving some areas of the paper untouched and forming shapes from the void. I often imitate organic growth and movements of the living world. The idea that everything is alive—an animist conception of the world lately given a nod by scientific exploration of the nature of consciousness—inspires my decisions and actions. I draw freehand, and the speed of progress varies. I like the clarity I get when working with monochrome. When using color, I improvise, riffing on colors I see in life and in my mind. The rubbings are different in that the consideration and decision making can take weeks, months, or years. Once the decisions are made, creating the rubbed images can happen pretty fast.
Why do you make these things?
My passion for sharing my lived experience motivates me—I want to share my view of the drama that is living as a human on Earth. I see the work as seeds of beauty and appreciation that can grow in the hearts and minds of my viewers. With a heart that hungers for justice and peace, I aim for a balanced and harmonious aesthetic—an apt metaphor for these concerns.
What can you tell me about the history of these series?
The abstract ink drawing series began in 1993. In 2018 I began another iteration of that series and created over 200 drawings from my San Francisco studio until, in March of 2020, the shared studio was closed by the COVID19 pandemic. During those few but wonderful San Francisco years I also created new works in color and had begun exploring more representational plant-focused work when the pandemic shut things down.
Why don’t you stick to either abstraction or representational art?
I like working with abstraction because it feels like inventing things I haven’t seen before, and because the ambiguity leaves interpretation open to the viewer. The more identifiable imagery speaks to my love of the appearance of things—of plants in particular and of the world in general. Whether abstract or representational, sharing my sense of wonder and appreciation are paramount to me.
What’s your overall outlook on your artistic practice?
I’m enchanted by the vibrancy in the living world around me, and I acknowledge an all-pervasive consciousness that animates matter. I am grateful to be here and to express myself and make meaning with art. I share my work for the human connection.
Do you have questions about my work that are not answered here? Send me a note!