My paintings reference water, which I observe in the natural world, through aerial photographic images, Google earth, and in the more controlled studio environment where I generate ripples in a wave tank. Water’s dynamic fluidity, relevance to political and social issues and its physical properties operate on optical and metaphorical levels in my paintings.
Color relativity and interaction is powerful and provides a model for nuanced, contextual thinking. Colors change based on context, they are affected by surrounding colors. I am interested in color’s ability to be expansive and inclusive. My work honors the inherent properties of a wide range of pigments and explores how these properties respond to other pigments’ defining optical and material properties.
I use a range of processes and types of paint to visualize the affective power of elemental visual effects and interdependent visual relationships to convey a socially engaged message. A fundamental concern drives my work as it continues to evolve. I’m interested in creating paintings that embody an integral connection between process and form; this interplay mirrors the natural world and social dynamics.
Since 2019, I’ve been working a a series, Beneath Stilled Waters, an exploration of sites around the Columbia River Basin with relevance to debates over salmon, dams, and how we view and manage our rivers. These landscapes represent stories, cultures, and lenses on history that will determine the future of the inland Northwest's rivers, salmon, and the ecosystems they support. Beneath Stilled Waters represents places at the heart of political, economic, and cultural debates and decisions that are grounded in the past, unfolding in the present, and that will ripple into the future.
Landscape painting can help highlight sources of tension between human values/beliefs and natural systems, as well as suggesting how this tension might be lessened. My ongoing series of paintings, drawings, and videos engage with this tradition that visually represents how the natural world is valued. These works are encounters with place, their visual manifestations are informed by direct experience of each site, multi-disciplinary research, and a commitment to representing the character of each place through specific and responsive processes.