THIS LAND
What power does a Place have? For me, a strong one. One I feel deeply. No place has more impact than where we grow up, where we work, where we play and where we go to school. This exhibition of my newest work on the SAS campus brings with it memories of how this place and the lasting friendships I made here influenced my life. While teaching biology, botany and zoology during the first 7 years of the life of the new school, I had the opportunity to create the extra curricular outdoor program. My students and I explored the streams, the bluffs, the reservoir, and the vast undisturbed forest ecosystem on this 550 acre living laboratory that we call the campus: our home. Being outside, we, the human inhabitants, see that we are part of a large, intimately interconnected community.
I hope my work can trigger a similar experience for the viewer. I find inspiration in my lifelong love affair with nature. While exploring the woods near my home and other environs in the region I collect flowers, leaves and twigs. I then apply them onto copper with different solutions to create a colorful effect or patina. My goal is to establish a sense of place and interconnectedness.
The insight for each work is different:
The work, "Water is Life", is made from salvaged copper from an historic home which dates to 1878-1880. The years speak through the layers of patina which was the foundation from which I worked. What emerged was a sense of regional topography.
The Res
The work, "The Res", is made from using roses from the banquet tables and the chapel during last year's alumni homecoming. It became an aerial view of the most loved part of SAS, the reservoir--a map.
The boxes, "Fire and Ice Series", were fabricated and then torched, later bound with leaves and buried during the fall and winter--archeological artifacts.
This show is a homecoming for me. I loved my 7 years during the beginning of SAS. I treasure those times and all the friendships made.
Thank you.
Enjoy.