This human-scaled sculptural piece is constructed with elements proliferating out of a black base, made with repurposed styrofoam and cardboard, and painted with thick black encaustic paint. The base construction references resourceful building and adhoc shelters, whilst also recalling tree forms due to the painted sticks that ‘grow’ out of it. From this base, regeneration and re-wilding comes in the form of a bricolage of found man made and natural objects which are pinned to, embedded in, or hang from the structure. The plastic objects and materials have been subjected to heat and appear mishapen or shrivelled, as if they have been through a fire event. In addition to this, an eclectic mix of collaged images jostle for attention and move or project out of the sculptural piece. Graduated colour from red to yellow from the base to the top of the piece references wildfire and fire generally as bringing mixed fortunes and both essential heat and devastation.
Dimensions: approx 8” x 18”
Mixed Media: Plastic bottles and other plastics, rivets, found object, encaustic paint, plaster bandage
2022
The base of this piece is a plastic laundry liquid bottle, out of which many forms are seen to proliferate, all created from similarly coloured plastics. The forms emulate those found in nature, almost as if the plastic has been allowed to re-wild itself, as we might see with an artificial reef in the ocean, or in places where nature has been allowed to once again dominate man made structures, such as in the abandoned city of Pripyat after the Chernobyl explosion. Each piece of plastic is carefully cleaned, cut, sanded and manipulated into its new form, allowing it to metamorphose, both in form, but also in the value applied to it due to this exquisite attention. At the apex of this newly formed habitat, a yellow bird sits, offering hope of bringing species back to our world. At the same time, the title references our position as canaries in the coal mine, being the first people to live with plastics in our environment, and increasingly aware of how plastics are being absorbed into our biology.
The Biodomes series features six three dimensional collage pieces in chromatic colours, displayed in glass domes with wooden bases. They were informed by the Victorian’s predilection for putting nature under glass, ‘civilising’ it for their homes and museums. Here, a black base constructed from recycled foam, cardboard and encaustic paint, is ‘rewilded’ with an eclectic collection of images, objects and materials. Nature and man made items and materials jostle for space and attention as they manage to flourish and thrive alongside each other. The black bases were informed by images of wildfire aftermath and the devastation of structures, both natural and man made.
Mixed Media in glass dome with wooden base
12” x 6”
2022
Mixed Media in glass dome with wooden base
12” x 6”
2022
Mixed Media in glass dome with wooden base
12” x 6”
2022
Mixed Media in glass dome with wooden base
12” x 6”
2022
Mixed Media in glass dome with wooden base
12” x 6”
2022
Mixed Media in glass dome with wooden base
12” x 6”
2022
Found objects, encaustic paint, cardboard, canvas.
2022
Approx 2’ x 6
A Walk in the Park was completed during my Community Art Residency supported by the North Vancouver Recreation Commission in 2022. I took residence in a field house in Chris Zuehlke Memorial Park in North Vancouver for 3 months. Through the duration of the residency, I would take walks around the park and search for discarded litter, most often plastics. Back at the field house I would carefully clean, sort and arrange these found pieces, thus drawing attention to them as objects and materials worthy of our consideration. Elevating their status and perceived worth sheds light upon the issues of the plastics pollution crisis and how our throwaway culture continues ceaselessly. Classified and arranged by chromatic colour, there is a playful presentation of this process, reflecting the activities that go on in the park - kids playing on the playground, playing sport, people walking dogs and more. The title refers to the metaphor of a ‘Walk in the Park’ as being something easy and pleasant to do, a somewhat tongue in cheek reference to the seemingly intractable burden of the plastics crisis.
This series of collages on paper entitled ‘Re-Wilding’ developed in response to issues of climate change and a questioning as to what this term might mean, both for civilization, and for us as individuals. How can we ‘re-wild’ ourselves and our planet, to find fecundity of our imaginations, our hearts, and our habitats? Imagery used in these paper collages is wide-ranging, referencing ecology, lost civilizations, our changing relationships with exploration beyond our planet, and modern and contemporary architecture and domestic interiors. The pieces are composed around an epicentre of neutral hues or grayscale tones, which are ‘re-wilded’ with colour as the compositions evolve outwards. Are we afraid of colour in contemporary society as David Batchelor suggests in his book ‘Chromaphobia’? What impact does the leaching of colour out of our contemporary environments have on us and our ability to find resilience and joy in our lives?
Paper collage on Stonehenge paper
22” x 30”
2021
Paper collage on Stonehenge paper
22” x 30”
2021
Paper collage on Stonehenge Paper
22” x 30”
2021
Paper collage on Stonehenge paper
22” x 30”
2021
Paper collage on Stonehenge paper
22” x 30”
2020
Paper collage on Stonehenge paper
22” x 30”
2020
Paper collage on Stonehenge paper
22” x 30”
2020
Paper collage on Stonehenge paper
22” x 30”
2021
Paper collage on Stonehenge paper
22” x 30”
2021
Paper collage on Stonehenge paper
22” x 30”
2021
Paper collage on Stonehenge paper
22” x 30”
2020
Paper collage on Stonehenge paper
15” x 22”
2021
Paper collage on Stonehenge paper
15” x 22”
2021
Recorded Artist's Talk to accompany 'Re-Wilding' solo show at Silk Purse Art Gallery, West Vancouver 2022
Ghost Nets was made for the Diving In: The Art of Cleaning Lakes and Oceans environmental art project in 2022. I was given bags of aluminum cans recovered from the beds of lakes to transform into an art work for a travelling group exhibition.
‘Ghost Nets’ draws a thread between one toxic form of human pollution of our waters, and another, even more egregious form of ocean waste.
Submerged aluminum cans are not a benign presence. A plastic product, ’vinylite’ ,was trademarked to coat the interior of the can, whilst toxic inks again coated with plastic are used for the logos on the exterior. Aluminum cans in the water take approximately 200 years to decompose, whilst the plastic will never leave the water.
I developed a technique to turn the cans into string-like lengths and chose to represent ‘ghost nets’ with the bound cords. Ghost nets are abandoned, lost or discarded nets haunting our oceans. Caught on coral reefs or floating free in the ocean, they continue to fulfil their original purpose unchecked, entangling whales, dolphins, turtles, birds and other marine life. Ghost nets and gear make up 46% of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.
Artists Panel for the Diving In Environmental Art Project
The Wind and the Sun investigates our changing relationship to the sun in the Anthropocene. My interest in the sun emerged in response to the devastating heat dome in British Columbia in 2021 and the increasingly severe wildfires of recent years. This led me to reflect on the dual nature of the sun, both as a life-giver and a destructive force, capturing the profound tension inherent in this relationship. The sun is the "engine that drives the Earth" (David Suzuki), but, as we know, playing with fire is dangerous. As Suzuki notes, "All the gods of all our stories know that fire is a double-edged sword; what warms may burn, what gives power may also consume, what gives life may take it away just as easily." I use abstract forms, found objects, and collaged images to convey the chaos and aftermath of wildfires, while also hinting at resilience and potential renewal—a reflection on our environment and the complexities of our connection with nature.
The title The Wind and the Sun also evokes the psychological shift required for our survival as a species—encouraging us to be "the sun" to others, rather than "the wind." This fable, attributed to Aesop, contrasts persuasion with force. In the story, the Wind and the Sun argue over who is stronger, challenging each other to make a traveler remove his coat. The Wind blows fiercely, but the harder it blows, the tighter the traveler clutches his coat. The Sun then shines gently, making the traveler comfortable enough to remove his coat. This timeless fable teaches that kindness and warmth often achieve what force cannot, serving as a reminder of the power of understanding over aggression.
This series of mixed media collage works were made in the Summer of 2020 whilst I was teaching online and feeling the strangeness of the ‘together, apart’ circumstances in which we were all existing. Many of the collage pieces were sent to me by my friend and fellow artist Susan Jessop, who in turn made some pieces with cuttings I sent her. It was a way in which we could stay connected and encourage each other through the challenges of isolation. They seem to speak about disconnection and the barriers to togetherness, not only physically but perhaps also emotionally, and the drive and struggle to connect with others.
Acrylic, graphite, collage on Stonehenge paper
22” x 15”
2020
Acrylic, graphite, collage, pastel on Stonehenge paper
22” x 15”
2020
Acrylic, graphite, collage, wire, tape on Stonehenge paper
22” x 15”
2020
Acrylic, graphite, collage on Stonehenge paper
22” x 15”
2020
Mixed Media
8’ x 6’
2019
These pieces take the form of assemblages formed from eclectic materials which hang on the wall and/or sit on the floor. These pieces work in the interstices between painting and sculpture and use abstract forms to evoke poetic and psychological associations. They are informed by an innate familiarity with the language of classical painting gained from seven years teaching at the National Gallery in London.
‘Hang Ups describes both the way in which many of the works are hung (sometimes apparently ‘hanging by a thread’) on the wall, often appearing to be overcome by the pull of gravity as they tumble down to the floor, It also makes reference to a psychological dimension suggested by the work - a sense of dramatic tension, or precariousness.
We live in an age of hang ups, fuelled by social media and consumerism. The mechanisms of marketing and lifestyle influencers creates in us a constant feeling of lack. We will be better, happier, if only we can have that thing, get better abs, reduce our facial lines or such like.
Of course it is all futile as we only long for the next thing that will ‘fix’ us.
In 1966 American minimalist sculptor Eva Hesse created ‘Hang Up’, a piece consisting of an empty painting stretcher obsessively wound with cord and painted, and a metal ‘line’ (a steel tube) projecting out from the stretcher into the gallery space. It was part sculpture, part painting, and, for Hesse, was the first piece that she made that achieved the level of absurdity or extreme feeling she was seeking in her work. She titled the work to refer to both the process of installing a painting and to a psychological preoccupation.
This work responds to Hesse’s exploration of absurdity and dramatic import, with a contemporary take on throwaway materials and with a flourish of pop inspired colour. The pieces use a painterly language which is informed by the complex and dramatically ‘staged’ compositions of figures from Western classical mythological paintings. In a frozen moment of suspense as found in these paintings, the elements of the pieces are hung in the balance, ‘up in the air’ before they may take off or collapse.
Mixed Media
6’ x 6’ approx
2018
Mixed Media
8’ x 12’ approx
2019
Mixed Media
4’ x 7’ approx
2019
Mixed Media
4’ x 6’ approx
2019
Mixed Media
3’ x 5’ approx
2019
Mixed Media
5’ x 6’ approx
2019
Mixed Media
2’ x 3’ approx
2019
Mixed Media
18” x 36” approx
2018
‘Hang Ups’ Drawings installed in studio for Culture Crawl
2019
L - ‘A Breath of Fresh Air’
R - ‘Above and Beyond’
2019
All at Sea is a limited series of small oil paintings depicting constructions made from coloured modelling clay and doll parts. It speaks to upheaval and transition.
Oil on canvas
18” x 18”
2018
Oil on Arches paper
14” x 17”
2018
Oil on Arches paper
14” x 17”
2018
Oil on canvas
14” x 17”
2018
Oil on canvas
12’ diameter tondo
2018
Oil on canvas
20” x 40”
2018
Oil on canvas
20” x 40”
2018
Oil on canvas
20” x 40”
2018
Oil on canvas
24” x 24”
2018
Oil on canvas
24” x 24”
2018
Oil on canvas
14” x 18”
2018
Oil on canvas
14” x 18”
2018
Oil on Linen
18” x 24”
2018
