Artist
Statement

As a third-generation artist, I was raised in a home full of creativity. Summers spent in Northern Michigan served to heighten my sense of the sublime natural world. Eventually my awareness of its potential to reveal our truest selves became the cornerstone of my imagery.

We all seek to bridge our distant primordial roots into present day existence. We gain solace in the rich, sensory realm of nature. The imagery I create is a visual link to this desire for connection and balance. I understand artistic expression, not as something immutable, but like nature, - shifting and organic.

My wood assemblages are an extension of my intent to create a biomorphic object that is laden with a pre-linguistic essence. The wood assemblages are comprised of found objects, cedar charred in the Japanese shousugiban method and barn wood.

While I am working, I try to trust my deepest impulses. I feel as if my hand, holding its tool, is a conduit connected to what Carl Jung calls the animus, the truest source of our creative ability. To further tap into that fragile space, I have taken up the meditative practice of daily ink gestures known by the Japanese as hitsuzendō.

It is my hope that by embracing the immediate and intimate act of constructing and painting, I can give the viewer a moment of transcendence.