Process, Responses
God in many hands
The word “God” from hundreds of responses. Detail of a work in progress, ink on canvas.
Process
One-Word Answers
The funnest interview I’ve done – Five Questions. One-Word Answers.
Lake Erie
Process, Projects
The Letter A
The mesmerizing diversity of the letter ‘a’ handwritten by 651 people. Detail of a work in progress, ink and mylar on canvas.
Process
I Am Still Here
“I am still here” is an anonymous response from A Monument for the Anxious and Hopeful that lives on in my rituals. I stamp it repeatedly like a visual meditation, a swarm of vows to invoke guts, fortitude, presence. A reminder that dead loved ones are just a memory away.
Process
Koans for 2020
I have spent most of this pandemic year working with handwritten responses from past projects that have resonated with me: Fatigue. Existential Dread. Our country is on the edge of disaster. The ability to find peace within chaos. It’s not over and it really isn’t too late. I carved, stamped, painted, waxed, and rubbed them like fleshy koans until my corner of the room started to look unhinged. But they soothed me because it felt like an act of devotion to these writers, to their discomfort and dread, to my own discomfort and dread. It feels reassuring to trace the scribbled aches of strangers like learning how to write a more honest language. These experiments are leading to a new body of work.
Process
Lighting for the Nocturnal
Finland’s winter darkness soothes my nocturnal soul and it’s even more contemplative with the ubiquitous candelabras. After living in Helsinki ten years ago, James and I returned to Finland for a month-long artist residency on the island of Korpo in the Baltic Sea. Many residents are Swedish or identify with both cultures, and the Swedish Advent candelabra lights many windows during the holidays. In the nearby city of Turku, grids of these now-secular objects line the windows of apartments and office buildings alike, casting a meditative and communal mood on the streets like a temple. We created the Light the Barricades book to everlasting dusks, the sun rising and setting in slow motion behind this warm glow.
Korpo, Finland
