Walking has always been essential to my creative process. Since my husband’s death, it has also become a vital means of processing my grief. Walking compels me to slow down and look for signs of life after a long, dark winter, mirroring my journey through grief and towards new life.

During my spring walks since his passing, I have searched for and collected ephemerals emerging from the forest floor. Inspired by Anna Atkins book “Photographs of British Algae (1843)”, I use the cyano-lumen process to honor the essence of these brief, beautiful lives.

After dipping the plants in cyanotype sensitizer, I create a composition on long-expired black and white darkroom photo paper discovered in my studio, giving this old paper new life. The photo paper is then exposed to the sun’s ultraviolet light, embracing the unpredictability of weather and lighting conditions, and requiring me to relinquish control.

The resulting cyano-lumens are scanned, capturing a moment in time. The original works remain chemically unfixed and are themselves ephemeral, destined to change over time. This process is filled with surprises and serendipity, serving as a meditation on finding beauty in impermanence.

The Tidal Dreams series explores the concept of wilderness in the urban environment and challenges our perception of Baltimore’s urban landscape. 
 
This series was photographed at Black Marsh Natural Area on the east side of Baltimore, on property once owned by the Bethlehem Steel Company. The property was once used as a hunting preserve for the steel company’s executives. For almost a century, the Bethlehem Steel Company was one Baltimore’s biggest employers and one of the northern Chesapeake Bay’s biggest polluters; yet, they were good stewards of this particular place. When Bethlehem Steel closed, they sold the property for 5.3 million dollars to the state of Maryland. 
 
Black Marsh Natural Area is considered one of the finest examples of a tidal marsh on the upper Chesapeake Bay, despite being surrounded by an industrial, urban environment. It’s a landscape of memories, and a reminder of what the natural landscape of Baltimore was like prior to industrialization. Climate change, rising sea levels and surrounding development threaten this fragile ecosystem home to native wetland plants and rare, threatened or endangered birds.
 
The series’ richly layered landscapes blur the lines between fantasy and reality. They are printed on translucent vellum and backed with white gold or silver leaf, giving the intimate prints dimension, luminosity, and a little bit of magic.

The Tidal Dreams series was exhibited in March 2019 at Project 1628 in Baltimore. Two pieces from the Tidal Dream series are part of the permanent collection of the Fort Wayne Museum of Art.