“Where do we go from here?”  Fascinatingly, one simple question can mark the beginning and ending of nearly all undertakings. My artistic vision illustrates this question on several levels but, for the most part, in one regard, the fact that I believe I am largely influenced by the particulars of nature’s predominant forces, which are forever mysteriously at work around us all—beginning and ending things, so to say.

As my artistic endeavors have evolved during this exploration into the authority of these natural forces, one particular characteristic has shown itself time and again in my work: manipulation. For me, the physical energy exerted onto untouched surfaces (rasping, scoring, abrading, weathering, aging, etc.) to achieve an organic, weathered realism, symbolizes the shaping that occurs in the natural world.

For example, my digital work, in part, attempts to recreate the organic, biotic realm around us through the manipulation and layering of images. In essence, I simply attempt to capture the structure of the world as I perceive it. Many of my digital pieces use grids as frameworks and juxtapose frenzied lines against the backdrop of geometric elements. Often overlaid with text, letters also tend to become part of the landscapes.

Similarly, my drawings lean towards representing gridded landscapes that are seemingly viewed from a mid-air perspective. Usually colossal in size and sketched with simple grey tones, each section displays the resulting affects of nature’s ability to alter surfaces.

My wood sculptures, on the other hand, are literally gouged and scored to show rivers and streams gutting the landscape and hills and knolls swelling above the earth. Using warm tones, color also plays an integral role in emphasizing particular landscapes within the wood sculptures. Also, after the wood sculptures are nearly finished, I typically weather the surfaces even further by rubbing them down with beeswax to temper any unnatural sheen.

My weavings are also manipulated in such a way that boundaries are broken and color naturally bleeds beyond their respective frameworks and the movement of the fabric itself develops distinct color fields of texture and shape. The process of weaving double cloth allows me to work with several layers of information. The pick-up technique allows me to draw directly as I move along. When weaving, I am plotting out shapes and inventing strategies along the game board warp I have established. The images of rectangles, squares, and stair-stepping shapes are descriptive symbols used to communicate the journey. My pieces focus on weaving several cloths, expressing their own vocabulary of information. I piece them together forming contrasting relationships of images, color, and texture, which, in turn, produces sequences of harmonious journeys. I think of these constructions as groups of short stories written by one author. As I have only a general conception as to the size of any given weaving, the finished piece, in reality, is conceived purely on artistic instinct, which creates a unique, one-of-a-kind finished piece.

In the end it is inexorable that we, like all organisms in the universe, must conform to the natural order of things. And again I will refer to the idea of surpassing borders. Not just the physical boundaries of change, but also simply the notion of expelling out of the constricted spaces of the mind and the tensions from all forces that likely result. Perhaps this intuitive journey forever brings me closer to the end (or possibly the start) of my next artistic expedition. So, I ask again: “Where do I go from here?”