Artist's Statement
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And this is the paradox of landscape and memory: the landscape itself often seems to have forgotten, or we have learned to see the landscape as a refuge, a zone of tranquility, and thus to assume the innocence of its past- or the evidence is too slight. Landscape is visible; too often history is not, or assumes strange unrecognizable forms.”
– Rebeca Solnit, As Eve Said to the Serpent |
I am interested in “landscape” in the broadest sense of the word, and in all its possible poetic similes. Horizon lines, hillsides, lakes and trees make appearances in my work. Yet, I also depict landscapes of family histories and ghosted memories, the mother as a hidden landscape, and the landscape of invisible support networks. In terms of media, my work ranges widely from hand-made books to paintings with photo-transfers, and from highly detailed graphite drawings to web-based community projects.
Dualisms such as connection/isolation, revealing/obscuring, and presence/absence visually mark my ‘landscapes’ as do recurring motifs of outstretched hands, ships at sea, telephone wires draped from pole to pole, and mother and child portraits. My research interests tend to gravitate toward topics often avoided in polite conversation or discussed in hushed tones: post-partum depression, teen suicide, and adoption. All are issues which directly affect me, my teaching, and my family.
Through a mindful artistic practice, I gain self-awareness, sensitivity and empathy, which I hope will also be shared with my viewers.
Dualisms such as connection/isolation, revealing/obscuring, and presence/absence visually mark my ‘landscapes’ as do recurring motifs of outstretched hands, ships at sea, telephone wires draped from pole to pole, and mother and child portraits. My research interests tend to gravitate toward topics often avoided in polite conversation or discussed in hushed tones: post-partum depression, teen suicide, and adoption. All are issues which directly affect me, my teaching, and my family.
Through a mindful artistic practice, I gain self-awareness, sensitivity and empathy, which I hope will also be shared with my viewers.
