I gather my inspiration with the assistance of science and technology. My personal photographic catalogue is filled with images taken from commercial airplanes, often partly eclipsed by an airplane wing. Others are detailed images of foliage I encounter on hiking excursions. I delight in the myriad of satellite images available to me, as well as those unveiled by highly sensitive microscopes. Artists from only decades ago would have been amazed at this source material.
My reduction linocuts are influenced by my home in the Ohio River Watershed of the American Midwest, as well as my travels around the world. I use the labor-intensive, non-digital technique of reduction relief printmaking to coax colorful, rhythmic representations of patterns in nature from a single block of linoleum.
From a distance, my monoprint collages can look like quilts or mosaics. Colorful elements are carefully cut and placed into matrices reminiscent of mathematical or scientific principles. When considered up-close, vintage maps, personal cyanotypes and colorful monotypes keep the viewer’s eye moving from element to element. Drawing from travel, topography and plant forms, my monoprint collages evoke feelings of memory, longing and connection.
After living on both coasts, I’ve made my home in Bloomington, Indiana for almost thirty years. I enjoy being free with ink in a shared studio downtown, and create collages at my eastside home with the dubious help of two studio cats. When I’m not making art, I love hiking in the Deam Wilderness of the Hoosier National Forest with my husband, Tom.
