Becoming One: Finley
Becoming One: Finley Distillations of Place 2011-2012 Finley is a wildlife refuge located in the Willamette Valley, south of Corvallis, Oregon. Near the refuge entrance are two adjacent fields. The first is a farmed rye grass field. The second is a restored wetland prairie. In 2011, the rye grass field began to undergo a long restoration project, returning it to native wetland prairie. Because the two fields are adjacent to each other, I became interested in tracking the restoration process. I wanted to see how long it would take the restoration project to create an ecosystem that... Read More
Fern Ridge: One Year, Four Sites
The Fern Ridge Project Distillations of Place The Fern Ridge Project spans a year following four fields in the Fern Ridge wetlands near Eugene, Oregon: one native prairie field, two restoration fields and one farmed rye grass field. Each group of paintings refers to a season with the most prevalent colors of the landscape on the left of each panel; the least prevalent on the right. Fern Ridge Project: One Year, Four Sites Oil on 16 Wood Panels, 22 in. x 118 in. Groupings clockwise from top left: Restoration 1, Farmed field; Restoration 2; Native Wetland Prairie Season Details: Summer... Read More
Burn Lush & Poise Between Something and Nothing
Distillations of Place Colors are like a calendar; the passage of time is charted by the landscape’s color shifts. Colors can also act as an indicator of other environmental changes. Studied over time, they may point to a shift in the times when certain plants sprout and bloom or when the rains begin and end. Colors also carry a psychological impact, subtly affecting our personal relationships with place. If the landscape is manipulated, changing the progression and patterns of color, what impact does that have on us? Poise Between Something and Nothing... Read More
A Year of Average Colors of The South Yuba River
What is the essence of the river itself? What understanding is absent from these discussions? Science and policy concentrate on the quantifiable aspects of the river, and this is what FERC considers in the process of issuing a new license. As an artist, I felt as if I had no voice to lend to the re-licensing process. A Year of Average Colors: a mathematical determination of an aesthetic value investigates a quantifiable esthetic aspect of a river I called home, adding another layer of data to the masses.
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