My work is essentially a depiction of emotional experience. Emotions being an intangible quantity, both complex and multidimensional, they present interesting visual challenges. I have found the interaction of human experience with the environment integral to both our interior and external lives. The ecological reminder to reuse, recycle, and renew is as important to our emotional experience as it is to the wider world in which we live. We learn and evolve through adaptation to change and varied encounters, utilizing bits and pieces of the past, confrontation with the present, and dreams for the future. Those relationships are reflected in my work.  The work is often driven by emotional commotion, at other times by whimsy, but is usually on a continuum between both ends of that spectrum. Each piece is unique, one-of-a-kind, and cannot be duplicated. Because I tend to work in groups there are similarities among some pieces.

 

  I begin by constructing a wooden base, which is basically an overturned box with canvas stretched over the top, sides and on to the back. A few smaller pieces are made directly on wood. The sides are finished with metal leaf when the piece is completed. The materials used include, found objects, old, used, rusted bits of metal, new and old hardware, wire, beads, glitter, plant material, rocks, animal matter (hair, bones, hide), glass, paint, wood, paper, and other objects and items, which I find of interest and collect. The objects used form the syntax of the work and act symbolically for thought, feeling, and sensation. The use of everyday materials, both purchased and found, and the unconventional use of traditional materials allow for many different levels of appreciation.