"Each person’s life is lived as a series of conversations."
Deborah Tannen
I view my art as conversations. My approach involves recording, channeling the energies of the conversations. There are strands of statements and - tangles and fragments petering off, dissolving, or mutating within a piece. Each piece is immediate, of-the-moment, yet these conversants could be my ancestors. Am I making visible what is being overheard now or are they snippets of conversations from long ago that are drifting by?
As I my work has evolved, some of the conversations are broader in scope, evoking elements of nature and open vistas. Images appear that describe landscapes and sacred niches that may exist now or long ago.
I use traditional materials in untraditional ways. I studied sumi-e painting in Japan and Western drawing in the US, but my work combines both traditions. Some of my work involves another dimension - I crinkle or fold the “canvas” and create movements on the surface before I begin to add any marks – adding to the feeling of the sounds or energies moving in and out of range. The paintings are built up of layers of different shades of sumi ink, charcoal, and oil pastels.
I have come back full circle to explore my own personal artwork after many years working around the perimeter, in graphic design and illustration. The journey could not have started any sooner-I would not have been ready. A door is opening to another world with new conversations, language and sensations. I’m excited to see what unfolds.