At the core, I am an intuitive maker of things. My creative journey has taken a non-linear path from fine art to textiles and craft to digital media/film and circled back to analog made creations. The Covid shutdown prompted an experimentation and immersion into a visceral art process. Mirrors were broken, paint and brushes pulled from storage and paper collages emerged. Instead of layering video timelines and digital images, I meticulously hand cut magazines and glued pieces together into stream of consciousness compositions.
My recent years practicing Qigong, an ancient Chinese practice of moving meditation based on the Zen Five Elements of Nature, has directly informed my art. Over the past year, I created a 10-piece series, the Five Elements Transitioned that is based on the concepts, color and energetic associations representing the flow between seasons and chapters of life. The cycle begins the Wood season, the spring sprouting of new life and birth. From Wood to Fire to Earth to Metal and to Water. Metal energy hardens and contracts in the fall. The life cycle ends with Water, the coldness of winter, the hibernating stage of life into death and transformation.
Faced with severe Climate Change and the increase of extinct species, these elemental concepts resonate, serving both as a forewarning and a sign of hope for renewal and a sustainable balance.