THOUGHTS ON PROCESS, IN THE ARTIST’s OWN WORDS
ON EXPLORATION:
“My exploration of the visible is a collaborative process between nature and myself. I identify, source, and cooperate with my materials - all of which reveal physical evidence of interaction with their unique environments. Interested in discovering more about the many places which I call home, each of my artworks explore the way in which Place becomes embedded in the material itself.
These artworks also meditate on the intangible aspects of nature such as change, growth, and the passage of time. As I reduce and reconfigure my materials, each piece becomes an interplay between presence and absence, with the artistic processes frequently exhibiting tension between creating and destroying, remembering and letting go.”
ON REVEALING:
“Revealing the physicality and essentiality of materials – that which is there, but hidden – exposes what is beneath the surface, both tangibly and conceptually. I unveil and release, pulling the spirit out of the materials I use. As I reflect on this latent energy, I also imbue them with my own memories, with each artwork ultimately becoming a memorial to my time on this planet.
The immediacy of this direct contact is freeing, providing an opportunity to reflect and dialogue with the artworks as I create them. Favoring clarity over complexity, the process of stripping away all non-essentials ultimately provides elements of discovery, and even solace.”
ON INTERPRETING:
”Interpreting is an aspect of my practice which evaporates and transcends the physicality of the material, finding the soul that’s left behind. In this avenue of my artistic process, I give form to the formless, such as memory, growth, and change. Sometimes the mystery of its true shape is far away from what I see, and takes great effort to discover. Other times, however, it’s clearly available when I take the time to listen.
When I question the existence of this unseen force beyond form, something shifts, and the mysterious speaks to me with a louder voice than the obvious. This instinctual reaction proves to me the ways in which life is meaningful, and the myriad places which meaning exists in the universe.”
Photo courtesy of the artist