I am interested in protective spaces, both physical and emotional. In landscape, these spaces are created by trees, rocks and boulders meeting each other or meeting the ground. In a winter landscape, because the leaves have fallen, these relationships are visible, unhidden.
My work also references objects and artifacts – mementos, small items, ephemera – the spaces they occupy – shelves, boxes, cubbies.
Since 2009 I have had a muse – the Old Leather Man. He is a New England itinerant from the late 1800s who spent the last six years of his life walking between the Hudson and Connecticut Rivers and sleeping each night in caves or shelters in the woods. His narrative serves as a sounding board to inspire and inform my ideas. I feel a strong connection to his story. I am interested in his self-imposed isolation and his discomfort with others. I am envious of his ability to sleep alone in the woods. Focusing on him frees me from creating work using a first-person perspective.
I work with muted tones using water-based mediums on paper.