Artist Statement

The shells and other natural relics that animate much of my work, serve as objects I can “think” with, inviting a host of questions about the cycles of life and nature’s astonishing powers of regeneration.

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The discipline of drawing and sculpting these forms provides heightened awareness and forces me to be more intimate with the objects as I analyze their construction and get a sense of their “being.” My goal is less about morphological accuracy and more about capturing the idea or spirit of the objects. Only recently did I begin to understand that this is my way of reading nature — to better understand the science and to be closer to its mysteries.

This may explain why I am also drawn to papermaking processes:

Investigations into the synergistic bonds between water, cellulose fiber and pigment never cease to excite and provide a sense of conjuring artwork from raw elements. Like the relics I am so captivated by, I consider my paintings and sculptures artifacts of an ongoing collaboration

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