Overview
My studio work comes from visiting and researching sites of nature preservation or recreation such as National Parks. For over 15 years, I have completed trips that focus on a central question: How is perception of the land altered by the way one travels through it?
This began when I hiked over 2,000 miles of the Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine. In those five months Ispent hiking, I saw a preoccupation with viewing the landscape preserved in a language of rustic frontier aesthetics. This experience laid the foundation for analyzing landscape mythologies and my participation in them as the crux of my artistic practice.
Afterwards, I researched the relationship between the automobile and national parks. This led me on a cycling trip from the Washington Coast to Glacier National Park. I furthered this investigation focused on the view from a car in Acadia and Yosemite among others.
Sometimes, I paint or draw on site but many trips rely on photography combined with memory in the studio. These method of working allows me to focus on the immersing myself and absorbing my surroundings. Ideas or experiences can take months or years before I feel ready to articulate an experience.
