2017 - 2019
They Say Hope Floats, But I’d Rather Be Sure…
This body of work examines how a painter survives a rapidly shifting cultural and environmental landscape. Using handwoven canvas, found buoys, net floats, and salvaged materials, I blur the line between painting and survival tool, cultural artifact and emergency equipment. The process is intentionally low-tech — indicative of how most of the world will haphazardly be forced to adapt.
Works from this series are held in the DC Art Bank collection, the University of Maryland public collection, and private collections.
Signals
From top to bottom, right to left:
Ode to Agnes [Public Collection, Washington, DC]
Ode to Agnes III [Private Collection, Toronto,Canada]
Ode to Agnes II [Public Collection, Washington, DC]
In Need of Assistance [Private Collection, Novia Scotia]
Gravitation [Private Collection, Washington, DC]
Lunar Pull [Private Collection, China]
Acrylic, dye, bleach on handwoven canvas, found buoys, net floats
24” x 18” each, 2017-2018
The Auroras (Aurora Borealis & Aurora Australis)
The Auroras diptych was inspired by the seminal 1865 Aurora Borealis painting by Frederic Edwin Church. Painted while the Civil War was ravaging our nation, the spectacle of Auroras were commonly understood to be a visual sign of God’s displeasure with the war.
The Auroras (Aurora Borealis & Aurora Australis)
Acrylic, dye, bleach on handwoven canvas, found buoys, net floats, salvaged Syrian refugee inner tube
30” x 40” each, 2017
[In Private Collection, Denver, CO]
I Wish to Communicate With You
The project includes a painting as well as performative photographic documentation of its time floating off the tip of southern Manhattan, a climate-vulnerable location. It incorporates the woven international maritime signal code for "I wish to communicate with you," as it attempts to warn us of our follies.
Acrylic and dye on handwoven canvas, found buoys, net floats, fishing identification tag, plus archival inkjet print,
30” x 40,” 2018
[University of Maryland, Public Collection]
Ode to Agnes
Acrylic, dye, bleach on handwoven canvas, found buoys, net floats, plus archival inkjet print of the painting floating off the coast of Southwest Florida.
30” x 40”, 2017
[DC Art Bank Collection, 2020]
Ode to Agnes II
Acrylic, dye, bleach on handwoven canvas, found buoys, net floats, plus archival inkjet print of the painting floating off the coast of Southwest Florida.
30” x 40”, 2017
[DC Art Bank Collection, 2020]
Guaranteed to Float!*
From right to left:
Guaranteed to Float!* I [Available]
Guaranteed to Float!* IV [Available]
Guaranteed to Float!* III [In private collection]
Acrylic, dye, bleach on handwoven canvas, found net floats
12” x 9” each, 2017-2018
GUARANTEED TO FLOAT!* IV
Acrylic and dye on handwoven canvas, found net float, plus archival inkjet print of the painting off the coast of Southwest Florida.
16” x 28”, 2017
[Available]
In Case of Flood
In Case of Flood
acrylic and dye on handwoven canvas, found buoys, net floats, vintage child's life vest
26” x 42”, 2019
[Available]
Fragonard Visits
The Fragonard Visits paintings were inspired by Jean Honore Fragonard’s renowned L’Escarpolette (English: The Swing), created in 1767 during the Rococo movement in France. This style, very popular in the few decades leading up to the the French Revolution, was characterized by a pastel palette and a focus on the playful, decadent, and frivolous by a governing aristocracy who were intently ignoring the warning signs of a system out of balance.
Fragonard Visits Miami
acrylic and dye on handwoven canvas, found buoys
30” x 40”, 2019
[Private collection, Miami, FL]
Fragonard Visits the Bahamas
acrylic and dye on handwoven canvas, found buoys
30” x 40”, 2019
[Available]