Artist Statement

My connection to nature as a life-giving resource is rooted in my choice to live close to the land in the Rocky Mountain Range of the American West. Recently, my growing concerns about climate crisis have influenced my art, as have political divisions across the globe and the erosion of rights women have fought to secure.  With these concerns on my mind, the Pandemic was the catalyst for my “Warrior Women” series.  In my work, I emphasize the collective power and determination of women globally and historically. I see our connection to the earth as an essential resource for our own health and that of our families and communities.  At times, I find myself overwhelmed by the realities of inaction and injustice evident daily in our world of social media and soundbites. Art making is a  a way to communicate about my fears and anxieties. Another resource is to sit in my garden or walk in the woods or by the river.

 

In my artwork, I create dream landscapes that are places of healing and empowerment. In my series “Warrior Women” I start with vintage photographs of women taken in the 1800’s and early 1900’s. My medium, collage, is a process of deconstructing and reassembling. I remove each woman from the constraints of her time and locality and place her in a nurturing landscape outside the bounds of everyday reality. In building the dream landscape, I carefully select each piece to reflect and honor her story. 

 

I have always been drawn to portrait photography, knowing that a photograph is a moment in time, a real person with a unique story. The photographs I find are embedded within an historical and cultural context. Some portraits occur within the experience of privilege while others are shaped by colonization and exploitation. I seek to amplify women’s voices past and present and reclaim the undervalued stories of women’s everyday experiences. I research the achievements and struggles of women during each particular historical moment and locality to envision a framework for each piece of art. I use found images from magazines, books and online resources combined with paint, handmade papers, and text from old books to evoke a textured layering of desires, hopes and dreams. Through my art, I intend to create a narrative of connection and safety, of a way forward.  I build up a rich landscape that safely “holds” each woman where she is connected physically, emotionally and spiritually to the animals, plants, and the landscape.  I’m very conscious of my own feelings of connection as I surround her with the abundance and beauty of nature. She may be alone but is confident and at home. Perhaps I know that she will need this connection to persevere. Historically women have always played a large role as environmental activists, protectors, and peace keepers. I know the power of imagining a “safe space” that we experience with our inner eye and sense in our body. Ultimately, I hope my work will evoke the viewer’s own feeling of being in close relationship with our natural environments.

 

As a psychotherapist, I have witnessed the incredible resiliency of human beings to heal and reach toward wholeness. In my art, I seek to reflect that part of the human spirit. My hope is that the viewer will also enter the dreamscape I have created as a place of renewal and self-revelation.

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I offer my gratitude to all the photographers, known and unknown, whose work is a catalyst to my creative process.