Colors in nature are difficult to hold especially with the natural process of oxidation. Once an ink is extracted from the plant and is exposed to air, it will quickly oxidize and change to brown. Through this work, I examine ancient and contemporary ink making practices while utilizing my horticultural knowledge to explore alchemy and the unknown where the illusion of control is tested.

I find my artistic process of allowing, letting go and wonder allows for the materials to emerge and share their story, express their vulnerabilities and celebrate their alchemical reactions. These current works, Regeneration Series, are from a meditation on healing inner trauma of abuse. I wanted to explore intentional healing through crystal growth (a salt solution) and hand made inks while being given a container to express and heal the trauma. The process can take weeks for the reaction to settle and imprint onto the surface, changing and evolving from raw liquid to crystal like form. As I observe the pieces transform during that time I often wonder about the infinite possibilities of crystals patterns that could have emerged. 

Wandering through wondering is a beautiful landscape to explore my inner sanctuary. 

This series explores the moldability and range of functionality that paper offers. It’s a simple and complex material. It almost goes unnoticed as common material that passes through our hands daily, yet through its rich history with humankind the range of types and materials is vast. Handmade papers direct from pulping plant materials have a unique quality that I love to work with where the quality of the plant is recorded in the paper. I am interested in the way it absorbs ink, stiffens with salts, responds to handbuilding and that different selections will offer new results.

Line is fascinating as I observe it. Drawing a line in space is both illusionary and real. Line in nature does not exist but yet I draw it. A line in essence is simple but has the potential for unlimited expression. In this series of work, I am looking to uncover unseeable moments of stillness; an enveloping quietness of a calming unknown. Observation of the visual elements of line, repetition and simplicity within nature guide both my visual experience into the stillness and the expression of it. Abstraction of these elements provides the visual vocabulary while the instability of raw materials as tea, mud, egg and honey frees my controlling nature to let go and capture fragments of stillness to express a quiet moment.

This work examines the repetition of lines through the ability to create a synchronistic drawing and sculptural material that would allow me the flexibility to draw in space. Drawing from my admiration and fascination of honeybees, the wax would allow me the flexibility along with the ability to adhere to itself. The ritualistic life of honeybees inspires and begins to enliven the work not only with the intoxicating aroma of the beeswax but with its potential to react to thermal temperatures especially that of the sun.