A group of 21 small watercolors mounted on panels, Water Fragment appears mismatched, as if the relationship of its parts were provisional. Beneath the grid-like structure, transparent watercolor brings depth and fluidity. The subject of Island of Ought and Naught is a tiny island off the coast of Iceland where the last great auk was captured and killed. Elizabeth Kolbert compares the island, in The Sixth Extinction, to “the base of an enormous column" with guano from seabirds that give it “what looks like a coating of vanilla frosting”. In Enez Glas, the cobbled forms of islands erode and dissolve in an expansive pictorial space of watery floodplain. Inspired by walks on Fir Island in the Skagit river delta, the scene is one of water reclaiming land in a fragile, shifting environment.
watercolor on paper mounted on panels, 40”h x 75”, 2015
watercolor on paper mounted on panels, 40”h x 75”, 2015
watercolor on paper mounted on panels, 54”h x 75”, 2015
watercolor on paper mounted on panels, 54”h x 75”, 2015
watercolor on paper mounted on panels, 54”h x 75”, 2015
watercolor on paper mounted on panels, 54”h x 75”, 2015
Finished in the aftermath of a major calving of Jakobshavn glacier in western Greenland, Divided Earth presents the ice shelf of a marine glacier as if it were the architecture of an immense skyline, crowding the picture plane. The whole work is 18 paintings in three groupings of six. Pattern, repetition and stability are undermined by cracks, slippage, and sections that appear to be teetering on the verge of collapse.
polymer emulsion on 6 panels, 78"h x 75"w, 2016
polymer emulsion on 6 panels, 78"h x 75"w, 2016
polymer emulsion on 6 panels, 78"h x 75"w, 2016
polymer emulsion on 6 panels, 78"h x 75"w, 2016
polymer emulsion on 6 panels, 78"h x 75"w, 2016
polymer emulsion on 6 panels, 78"h x 75"w, 2016
polymer emulsion on 6 panels, 78"h x 75"w, 2016
polymer emulsion on 6 panels, 78"h x 75"w, 2016
polymer emulsion on 18 panels, 6 1/2'h x 19'w, 2016
installation, 2016
installation, 2016
installation, 2016
Landscapes are repeatedly formed and deformed through time. We live on a brittle crust of earth that is continually moving and changing – most of the time very slowly – because the brittle surface is moving in and out of a more ductile, flexible layer where rocks bend instead of break.
watercolor onscreen print on paper, 22” x 30”, 2013
Watercolor onscreen print on paper, 22” x 30”, 2013
watercolor onscreen print on paper, 22” x 30”, 2013
vinyl polymer emulsion on panel, 48" x 36”, 2014
vinyl polymer emulsion on panel, 24" x 18", 2014
vinyl polymer emulsion on panel, 24" x 18", 2014
In Cracked Prospects, figures of the picturesque -- the remote landscape, the broad vista, moments of luminous transparency -- are broken and abstracted. Ice is imagined as an organization of grids, structures undermined from below or within by melt and movement. The watercolors in Subglacial present the emblematic image of a polar ice shelf as interlocking grids, rigid structures undermined by melt and movement. In Melt Marine, thick chunks of ice or land are floating into or out of the picture plane. With both the large oil paintings on canvas and small studies on panels, oil glazes are layered over screen prints of maps of a glacier.
acrylic and vinyl polymer emulsion on canvas, 44” x 60”, 2013
acrylic and vinyl polymer emulsion on canvas, 44” x 60”, 2013
watercolor on paper, 15.5” x 22”, 2012
watercolor and vinyl polymer emulsion on paper, 22” x 30”, 2012
watercolor and vinyl polymer emulsion on paper, 22” x 30”, 2012
watercolor and vinyl polymer emulsion on paper, 22” x 30”, 2012
oil on screen print on canvas, 44" x 60", 2011
oil on screen print on canvas, 44" x 60", 2011
oil on screen print on paper, 18" x 24", 2011
oil on screen print on paper, 18" x 24", 2011
oil on screen print on paper, 18" x 24", 2011
"Glacial speed" is the epitome of slowness, the idea of imperceptible change, imperceptible movement, like geological time, a time that is too slow for short-lived humans to watch. But with ice sheets disintegrating, icebergs breaking off and flipping, the speed of glaciers melting has progressed from the imperceptible to the perceptible, from the apparently timeless into human time. Glacial Speed interprets the changing topography of a shrinking glacier as if from above. Eighty screen prints of a mapped glacier are hand-painted with watercolor washes and abstracted forms to suggest phases of change. A video with sound from glacier events connects the stills in succession.
2010, watercolor on screen print on paper, each 22” x 30”
2010, watercolor on screen print on paper, each 22” x 30”
2010, watercolor on screen print on paper, each 22” x 30”
2010, watercolor on screen print on paper, each 22” x 30”
2010, watercolor on screen print on paper, each 22” x 30”
2010, watercolor on screen print on paper, each 22” x 30”
2010, watercolor on screen print on paper, each 22” x 30”
2010, watercolor on screen print on paper, each 22” x 30”
, 2010, watercolor on screen print on paper, each 22” x 30”
Cascadia is a series of watercolors imagining buoyant worlds of water, ice, and earth. Gigantic underbellies with slivers of iceberg above: the disproportion of top and bottom are so extreme as to be untenable.
2010, 22” x 28”, watercolor on paper
2010, 22” x 28”, watercolor on paper
2010, 22” x 28”, watercolor on paper
2010, 22” x 28”, watercolor on paper
2010, 22” x 28”, watercolor on paper
2010, 22” x 28”, watercolor on paper
2010, 22” x 28”, watercolor on paper
2010, 30” x 22”, watercolor on paper
2010, 30” x 22”, watercolor on paper
2010, 30” x 22”, watercolor on paper
The works in the series Extremities use watercolor, ink, and acrylic paint, combining chance procedures and different mark-making strategies to build images of melting icebergs. I was interested in the psychological metaphor of the iceberg: all that we know is just the tip of the iceberg. Hidden below the surface, the unknown is like the unconscious, the suppressed or avoided.
2009-12, 60” x 40” framed, watercolor on paper
2009-12, 60” x 40” framed, watercolor on paper
2008, 60” x 52”, watercolor, acrylic on paper
2008, 60” x 52”, watercolor, ink, acrylic on paper
2008, 60” x 52”, watercolor, ink on paper
2008, 60” x 52”, watercolor, ink on paper
2004, 7” x 5”, watercolor on paper
2004, 8.5” x 8”, watercolor on paper
2004, 7” x 3 3/4”, watercolor on paper
In Multigrid and the Grotto series, crystalline forms and patterns are layered on paper, panels and wall drawings. The study of minerals and geology opened a pathway into abstraction.
2006, 18” x 12”, watercolor on paper
2006, 18” x 12” watercolor on paper
2007, 18” x 12” watercolor on paper
2005, 18” x 12” watercolor on paper
2005, 18” x 12”, watercolor on paper
2005, 18” x 12” watercolor on paper
2007, 18” x 12” watercolor on paper
2010, watercolor on paper, 22” x 28”
2010, watercolor on paper, 28” x 22”
, 2006, 18” x 12” watercolor, varnish on folded paper
2005, 36” x 48”, watercolor, acrylic on panel
2005, 24” x 36”, watercolor, acrylic on panel
2005, 18” x 60”, watercolor, acrylic on panel
2005, 32” x 32”, watercolor, acrylic, oil on panel
in 8-Hour Drawings, Allegheny College Galleries, Meadville, PA, 2007
in 8-Hour Drawings, Allegheny College Galleries, Meadville, PA, 2007
2010, 21" x 34", oil, watercolor on panel
2010, 17" x 21", oil, watercolor on panel
2010, 28" x 24", oil, watercolor on panel
2010, 10" x 20", oil, watercolor on panel
In Open Monad I made paintings of crystallized forms onto multiple facets of 3-d forms. For the larger pieces I constructed a 4’ x 4’ cube with plywood faces, then cut 6 new volumes out of it, oblique irregular volumes, and made each object into multi-sided paintings.
2005-7, dimensions variable, watercolor on wood structures
, 2005, longest side 48”, watercolor on wood structure
2006, longest side 48”, watercolor on wood structure
2007, longest side 48”, watercolor on wood structure
2007, longest side 48”, watercolor on wood structure
2005, 6” x 6” x 6”, watercolor on wood cubes
carried by artist, 2006
In Prospects, human and animal figures navigate through scenic areas ands suburban developments in panoramic watercolor and ink wash drawings on panels and paper. Beautiful as they are, the grand views of the Western landscape tradition responded to nostalgia for "wilderness" and were made to appeal to those of us who profited from its destruction.
2003, 5’ x 18”, ink, watercolor on panel
2003, 5’ x 18”, ink, watercolor on panel
2000-02, dimensions variable, ink, watercolor on panels
2000, 7 ¼” x 66”, ink, watercolor on panel
2002, 7 ¼” x 77”, ink, watercolor, oil on panel
2002, 7 ¼” x 50”, ink, watercolor on panel
1999, 13” x 96”, watercolor on paper
1999, 13” x 96”, watercolor on paper
1999, 24” x 66”, watercolor, acrylic on panel
1999, 24” x 66”, watercolor, acrylic on panel
1999, 7” x 33”, watercolor on paper
In these ink and watercolor wash drawings on panels, I was trying to participate in the allure and the mythology of Romantic and Western painting, but also expose its underbelly, how we project onto other beings our own longing or guilt.
2004, 24” x 30”, watercolor on panel
2003, 48” x 60”, watercolor on panel
2003, 84” x 48”, watercolor on panel
2003, 84” x 48”, watercolor on panel
Materialization of the Love Object, 2002, 28” x 24”, watercolor on panel
2003, 7 3/4” x 10 3/4”, watercolor on paper
2003, 7 3/4” x 10 3/4”, watercolor on paper
2002, 28” x 24”, watercolor, acrylic on panel
2000, 48” x 48”, watercolor, acrylic on panel
1999, 13” diameter, ink, watercolor on panel
1999, 7” diameter, oil on panel
