During the many months of the Covid-19 quarantine in 2020, I found comfort in the meditative process of cutting paper by hand and tying it to my interest and passion for nature. My perception of time is greatly altered in this process of cutting.
Fascinated by botanical forms, I create work that embraces the fluidity and mysteries of nature, reveling in curves and the interlacing plant or cellular forms. Vascular systems, in natural forms such as leaves, with their complex networks of interconnected loops inspire me.
I immerse myself in the world of plants in my garden.
The pieces Monarch Mambo,Vertigo & Ring Around the Rosy are image transfers of large elephant ear leaves from my garden that involved rubbings of the leaf surfaces with Conte crayon.
I lost a nephew-in-law to Covid19 in April. He had seen Monarch Mambo before he died and noted the relationship between his lungs and the leaf network. Vertigo had the feeling of being off kilter and Ring Around the Rosy - horrifyingly over 400,000 people fell.
In Daydream. I was attracted to a combination of natural structures and man patterns and Sheltering involved multiple layers of heavy weight paper cut outs. In these drawings, some parts are pre-determined; others come into play purely by chance. None are laser cut.
My desire is to draw viewers into the mysteries of nature as well as the process, engaging them in discovery.
Photography by Joseph Hyde