In the time that I’ve been working, I continue to find that making art is a mysterious and humbling process. I’m truly influenced by the most mundane and sometimes by the most radical. I guess on some level, I find them to be almost equal.

The intersections between art, nature and economics and the theories about this exchange machinery yield for me, a larger view into the natural landscape of determined value and the fundamental scaffoldings of belief.

Lately my observations of nature have expanded and are the very floor to everything I understand about belief. For me, this machinery of nature defines and describes who we are and the stories we tell. It’s everything really. Children’s tales, history, television, literature, politics, science, economics, religion and advertising; they all share the fundamentals of incentive and I see that it’s these stories that reveal the baser laws of our natural drama. 

I began this body of work, DINING ROOM, at a dear friend’s home in Montana, summer of 2019.  My temporary studio was her dining table.  I responded by thinking of the friendships and many shared meals, hosting and guesting; and how important it is to getting to know each other better.

A year later, I could not imaging how much we would all miss each other.The dining table is a blank canvas for hospitality.  Our stories and relationships can be found in our food.  Food, like art, stimulates the mind and the senses.  One first eats with her eyes.  The colors and textures are endless. I also enjoy exploring surface design in table settings, placemats, centerpieces, ceramics, and glass.

 In 2020, hospitality, welcoming the stranger, is essential in the desert, with its challenges and difficulties.  Nourishing our neighbors is sharing more than a meal.  We are together at the banquet table.  Company is the main ingredient. 

My work germinates in my hiking and traveling experiences.  The idea for this exhibition began as I walked many colorful trails in the Guadalupe Mountains during the first week of November 2019.  The Guadalupe Mountain range is protected and open to visitors in two national parks: Guadalupe Mountains in west Texas and Carlsbad Caverns in southeastern New Mexico.  My trip coincided with the peak fall colors of the maple and oak trees.  Known as a sky island, the geography and climate of the Guadalupes form several distinct habitats within the surrounding Chihuahuan desert and create the bewildering experience of seeing autumnal reds and oranges next to the dusty-browns and grey-greens of the desert.  From the salt basin dunes at the base of the mountains to the coniferous forests within the peaks, the Guadalupe Mountains are a vast feast of artistic inspiration.

When I returned home to my studio, I realized that I could dedicate years of work to this region, but settled for 7 months.  I began each threadpainting by dyeing cotton fabric for sky and land.  I then spent countless hours sewing straight and zig-zag stitches with my sewing machine.  For more texture and detail, I hand-embroidered French knots and straight stitches. Each piece incorporates a variety of threads and fibers.  Like seasonal changes and growth found in nature, my process took considerable time, energy, and labor.

For me, embroidery and sewing embody a tactile sense of the comfort and peace that I experience when I’m in the places I depict.  When I find beauty in nature, I am reassured that this world provides a good home and a place where I can flourish.  I am recharged so that I can do my part to protect and nurture these places of restful splendor.