I am fortunate to spend most of my time in the rural coastal community of Otis, Oregon, next to the Cascade Head Biosphere Marine Reserve. I watch the boundaries of land and water constantly changing with the tides, atmospheric shifts, and the stars appearing in the dark night sky. This location allows me to be present to water and sky, to absorb and reflect their cyclical changes into my work. These natural realities, dissimilar in scope yet, at times indistinguishable in form, overlap and intertwine in my imagination offering boundless creative potential.
Living in a rural Oregon community close to the ocean has provided me the opportunity to regularly look into tide pools, teeming with marine plants and animals and listen to the sounds of the ocean. This has sparked a renewed fascination with resilient marine ecosystems which have evolved and survived ever changing conditions. In this exhibition I have included work focusing on various seaweed species as well as numerous varieties of plankton. The images consider intricate systems of microscopic life forms gleaned from ocean underwater photography simultaneously with the expansive telescopic realm of our solar system’s star formations. I aim to create diaphanous multi-layered effects as one would see if peering through water or the deep gaseous atmosphere of outer space.
I begin by researching images and information collected by these technologies and point out visible parallels between forms found in marine ecosystems, sometimes microscopic, and vast star formations made available by the James Webb Telescope. The resulting imagery points to the use of the technologies of telescopes and microscopes which collect tiny measured pieces of perception, substitutes for understanding, because the human mind can’t grasp the interconnected vastness of the world we inhabit.
I am inspired by generating conversations, connections and relationships between artists and scientists which address the desire for hope found in the resiliency of nature, despite and perhaps because of the challenges humans have imposed. My hope is to engage viewers to enjoy a renewed experience of the interconnectedness of nature’s intricate systems and rhythms.