Reading “We Brought Our Mothers.” Performed at Kodac’s Blue Plate Special at the Defoor Center in Atlanta, Georgia, 2006.
The conceptual issues that are critical to framing my art are environmental responsibility, the impermanence of life, and the oral tradition of storytelling. Working with cobb (adobe), clay and other natural materials allows me to leave a small carbon footprint. In doing so, I participate in what communities of people have done for thousands of years— building their lives and homes from the earth. In some small way working with these benign and simple materials helps to replace what seems to be frequently absent in the modern technological world. My artwork is tethered to this sense of absence. Continually I return to creating vessels—inspired by nests and seedpods—to capture what is gone. Cobb serves to connect me to our cellular knowledge of building shared by swallows, squirrels, wasps, and modern tribal people today. Some say these ancient materials recall the human stories told over thousands of years. It is in these stories of sweet agony that all humanity is wrapped and my art embraces.My current studio experimentation is in the fusion of various medias and practices, specifically combining natural fibers, benign materials, painting and sound. These investigations are evolving into installations with an expectation to become truly interdisciplinary. Immersion in a vigorous exploration of visual ideas and experimental studio practice is at the heart of my commitment to creative work.
