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Artist Statement 1.2.10
For the last six months I’ve
attempted to think about the interaction of works of art
produced by an artist and works of art where the environment
does the creating. My goal was two-fold for my first semester –
one to experiment with materials and process and the other was
to create works removed from the traditions of a landscape or
still life painting.
During the 1990s I was very
involved with organic produce and sustainable agriculture. I
worked for a farmer’s owned cooperative, with over 40 certified
organic growers. We sold produce both domestically and
internationally. The Texas based Whole Foods, who at that time
was just opening their second store in Palo Alto, California,
bought our fruits and vegetables and were pioneers in promoting
awareness about organic produce and the idea of agricultural
sustainability.
I am also a partner in a farm that
belonged to my grandparents. I have a deep appreciation for our
vanishing farm land and our limited natural resources along with
a concern about our future. The ultimate goal for my work is to
figure out just how to contextualize my concerns about our
environment and communicate that feeling.
I have focused my studio attention
on a series of abstract paintings which I now call my organic
series. My starting point for the new work and experimentation
was inspired when I attended a friend’s exhibitions last spring.
The exhibition incorporated tree cookies in an interactive
series of sculptures. Tree slices or tree cookies provide a full
narrative of a tree’s age, health, and environmental conditions.
The work was inspired in part by the artist’s discovery that
there are 63 trees per person currently on this planet. My
experience of the world is this idea of a vastness beyond
imagination but when I think about the 63 trees that sustain me,
there is a huge shift from the vast to the finite.
Research:
Defining Moments:
Residency Review.
(PDF)
Was
Henri Matisse to Richard Deibenkorn as Robert Frank is to Wayne
Theibaud?
(PDF)
Reflections on Less and More.
(PDF)
The Invisible
Americans. (PDF)
Random Works Or Not.
(PDF)
Bibliography.
(PDF) |