Artist Statement:

 

Ethnobotany is a prominent focus in my artwork, not just with regards to economical uses and sustenance, but emotive responses: how humans may associate memories and internal feelings with specific botanicals, due to their past experiences, projections, and desires.  Additionally, I consider the traditional cross-cultural acts of using flora for celebratory occasions, and leaving botanical offerings for the deceased, the divine, the spirit world, at sacred sites, shrines, burial grounds, and death locations.  

 

I create studies from direct observation of non human-made materials (plants, minerals, etc.); I use these records of visual information to guide my artworks, along with observational painting and drawing straight onto the supports.  I also utilize actual botanical specimens for some of the acrylic paint application method in most of my water-based media on paper works.  The plant materials are fresh and/or dried and reconstituted.  Many of these cut flora are remnants from the floral industry and special events, providing a second inspired use for the artwork.  Each plant structure is individually hand-painted before being strategically pressed into the paper, building the composition up gradually, with sensitivity to the subtleties as they occur.  In this process, I am creating a record of the specimen via the imprint, and I am engaging with a life form beyond myself to enliven the mark-making.

​

My paintings offer viewers a portal into otherworldly and ethereal environments.  Sometimes the work is meant to be melancholic and redolent of tension, while other instances allude to sentiments of euphoria, passion, and exaltation.  All pieces aim to evoke a contemplative mood.  They often resemble abstracted landscapes, and tend to indicate a sense of motion (paused) in various areas of the compositions.  

​

I perceive the natural, non human-made world as one continual, immersive, dynamic art installation that forever intrigues me, offering meaningful insight for interpreting life’s complexities and progressions.  I take notice daily of the plant kingdom’s generosity.  Humans are entirely reliant on the plants for survival, on many levels.  This is often overlooked by us, particularly those living in non-agrarian societies.  In my nonverbal approach, I am advocating for the plants to be "seen".  I want to encourage people, through my imagery, to consider the profound importance of plants on this planet.  I want my artwork to serve as demonstrative of the plants’ relationships with temporality, cyclicality, continuity, and anciently-rooted magnanimity.