Artist Statement
Bubbles of ancient CO2 captured in Arctic ice; mottled primordial landscapes that, in the wake of Hurricanes Katrina and Sandy, grew inside houses; fractal patterns formed by the liquid contaminants in urban runoff – these phenomena represent nature in transition due to our culture's impact on the environment.
The formations that manifest at such sites inspire me, in part because I have always lived at the water's edge, from my childhood on Cape Cod to adult life in New Orleans and New York City. A series of kinetic sculptures and wall drawings made of tiny black and white-headed pins borrow the patterns of the molds that emerged in homes in New Orleans after floodwaters receded and an installation of over a thousand hand-built porcelain sculptures represents marine barnacles that will increasingly occupy coastal areas as our actions warm the globe and waters begin to rise.
Environments under stress are more than a thematic aspect of the work as the materials themselves have transitional qualities and are subject to interactive and evolutionary change. Ceramic sculptures are bisque-fired, without the final firing that would render them impermeable, leaving them porous and vulnerable. A series of blown glass “bubbles” installed in an outdoor urban lily pond take on water and algae from the pond as they become a part of the landscape, and reflect the world around them.
I explore the liminal space between nature untouched by human intervention and the “new nature” we create every day.
