Environments Gallery
Working towards a more sustainable future as an artist, I create work using found and recycled materials that focus on the natural world. Many comment on current issues, including the effects of climate change, wildfires, and the global pandemic.
These Jeweled Waters, 2023
12 inch paper quilt square
Foil, tissue paper, found images, plastic strips, mirror shards, and silver glitter paper.
A nude woman in a sunhat enjoys her solitude on the banks of rushing water.
On view at Arts Benicia Properties of Water exhibition
November 18 – December 17, 2023
Cool Day By The Pond, 2023
12in paper quilt square
Foil, tissue paper, watercolor, glitter, found images, stickers.
I have populated a calendar page featuring a flowering field and a pond with some of its likely inhabitants: a heron, some dragonflies, a bee, and a frog, expanding the idealized photo into a more visible habitat.
Monarch Habitat, 2023
12 inch paper quilt square
Foil, tissue paper, sliced calendar image, fennel, milkweed, glitter, flower petals, handmade paper.
A sliced image of Monarch butterflies is juxtaposed with the essential elements for their survival: milkweed where the caterpillars build their chrysalises; fennel leaves where they feed; and flowers where the adult monarchs seek nourishment.
Allergy Season, 2023
12 inch paper quilt square
Foil, paper, sliced calendar image, grasses, seeds, glitter, and hand painted stickers.
One of a series of peek-a-boo images created by slicing an idealized calendar photo to reveal the flora and fauna that does not appear in the printed photo.
Welcome Autumn, 2023
12in paper quilt square
Foil, tissue paper, found images, acrylic paint, glitter, metallic leaf, reflective paper, stickers.
A calendar image of a running stream in an Autumnal Maine landscape inspired a collage with likely inhabitants, a fox family, owls, and fish, all sourced from nature magazine articles.
Seaside, 2023
Mixed paper and foil with mesh and glitter.
12in paper quilt square
It is a view of paradise: a magnificent sunset
It is a view of paradise: a magnificent sunset over a beautiful beach. But then, fragmented, the view changes to reveal pollutants that color the sky and endanger aquatic life. The colors of the sky are made of plastic and glitter, while the sea is plagued by abandoned netting. Beautiful? Or appalling?
Urban Forest Illusion, 2023
Mixed paper and foil with mesh and glitter.
12in paper quilt square
Tall columns reach to the sky. Forest or glass-clad skyscrapers? A streetscape canopy is seen through an unexpected perspective. While nature’s finest blue sky, green trees, brown earth, twinkly stars, support the vision, a kaleidoscopic shift has created the illusion of glassy tall structures, creating an unsettling challenge to the interface between built and natural environments. Adding insult to injury, the buildings often reside on streets named for displaced species–Oak Street, Birch Place, Redwood Road.
Refugee, 2021
Foil, mesh, mixed papers, glitter, acetate, and pen drawing. 12in x 12in paper quilt square
A sea creature is in flight, a refugee from Earth’s many perils, appears larger than the continents. The background is like his skin in both texture and color. His urgency echoes the predicament of refugees fleeing current climate and political dangers across the globe, as well as diasporas throughout time.
Earth Mother, Are We Doing Enough? 2020
Mixed media with pen drawing. 12in x 12in paper quilt square
Two flora-fauna figures, one colorful and vibrant, the other drained and weary, face each other, demanding change in the face of climate change and the degradation of the earth. This work was included in The Earth on Which We Stand, a juried exhibition curated by the Northern California Women’s Caucus for Art at the Abrams Claghorn Gallery in April-May, 2020. Original SOLD.
Emergence, Unfolding, 2020
Paper and foil with pen drawing. 12in x 12in paper quilt square
New growth emerges from harsh ground, as barren rocks and dirt give way to color and clear sky. This work features the vast ages in layers of earth, turmoil, earthquake, upheaval, and despite all, the determination of life to survive.
Phoenix Mandala, 2020
Paper and foil. 12in x 12in paper quilt square
Created during the terrible wildfires of 2020, this piece looks to the regenerative time after a fire. It incorporates elements of fire, water, earth, and air. Fire is extinguished with cooling water, the wind carries away the smoke, and new life emerges from the earth.
Great Wave, 2022
Mixed media: foil, paper, acrylic paint. 24in square, full image 48in high x 72in wide
I participated in a group project based on Under the Wave off Kanagawa (Kanagawa oki nami ura), also known as The Great Wave, by Japanese woodblock artist Katsushika Hokusai from his series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji (Fugaku sanjūrokkei) ca. 1830–32. Six artists each received a 24 inch square canvas representing a portion of the Great Wave, with instructions to interpret (not necessarily faithfully reproduce) the original.
Movement characterizes my corner of The Great Wave (bottom left). Sliced printed paper captures the energy of the rising water, combined with white painted foil that highlights a wide swath of crashing waves. The power of the water contrasts with the helplessness of the people in the tossed vessel about to be consumed by the wave.
