My work evolves out of personal needs for art. I like to explore fields off the beaten track. I do best with hands-on learning. I enjoy inviting people to work together in the art-making process. I craft my handmade paper to use as a surface for my multimedia art. It is pulped mostly from weedy plants. Big Stone Lake and the surrounding area provide a generous amount of fiber material from native, invasive, and farm plant species that grow here. This work is experimental and comes out of a mix of plant stuff, science, and history. My enjoyment comes from seeing new potentials for what is often unappreciated, overlooked, or misunderstood.
I'm inspired by what can be found by the wayside. It's there where I realize my ideas and where raw materials are gathered to bring back to my studio. Then they can be reconstituted through hand-worked media. I use a Hollander beater to make the paper for drawing, painting, and photographic and digital processes. By working this way, I am inspired by deeper understandings of life around me. |