Abstract
“To protect the nature that is all around us, we must think long and hard about the nature that is in our heads.” – William Cronon My work is rooted in an environmental consciousness that derives from my concern for the Earth’s rapidly declining health. I use it to highlight the misuse and abuse that we (humans from Western industrialization through present day) inflict on local and global natural ecologies. We live in the Anthropocene – a geological age that has emerged due to the parasitic relationship that present day society has with the natural world. I create gestural installations with my hand built, monumental sculptures that are made out of earthenware clay, handmade paper pulp, and upcycled waste materials (plastic bags, fishing line, electrical wire, and old clothing and bedding).In addition to conscious material usage and impactful installation placement, I rely on strong formal devices and sensual form to create work that is symbolically charged. My forms are influenced by domestic and industrial objects that I experience in my daily life that are indicative of warning symbols and possible solutions for living more resourcefully. I marry my earthen objects with industrial surplus that is recontextualized through repetitive textile processes and the contrasting media charges my work with tension. The union of materials also serves as a metaphor for the complex relationship that humanity has with the natural world. My work is organized in two distinct categories. The first and primary category uses symbolism to warn the viewer of our current ecological imbalance. This body of work uses exaggerated scale, assembled mass, form isolation, and installation tension to emphasize my concern for the declining health of our planet. The second category is a single piece which serves symbolically as a call for action. This piece shows a solution for living sustainably through resourcefulness. My large-scale sculptures and installations offer my viewers a space to reflect on our hazardous environmental situation. I hope that my passion for making, my love for the earth, and my delight in observing the world around me in combination with my work will encourage people to join me in reconsidering our daily routines. According to internationally known writer, activist, and curator Lucy Lippard, “We (humans) need nature – nature does not need us” (Lippard 2013, 179).