My cityscapes begin either with images of places I've visited or of places I would like to visit. They develop into dense and intricate combinations of geometry and color, creating their own architecture, some ancient and ornate, some sleek and modern. In the end, the Cityscapes, like real cities, evolve in surprising ways out of their own energy, almost as if they were building themselves.
The title for this show, DOWN TO EARTH, came after the paintings were completed and surrounded me in my studio. Seeing them all together was a reminder of where I find solace in a troubled and sometimes frightening world, a world scarred by pandemic and by a plague of intolerance that undermines the right of every individual to live and love and learn as they wish. In the midst of all this my studio is a refuge, as is my home and my garden and of course the people that I love and cherish and am grateful to have in my life. These are all blessings that bring me down to earth to celebrate the intricate beauty and bounty it provides. In the words of perhaps our greatest prophet and truth sayer, James Baldwin,
“To be sensual, I think, is to respect and rejoice in the force of life, of life itself, and to be present in all that one does, from the effort of loving to the making of bread.” —The Fire Next Time
May we all continue to rejoice together.
In 2017 the farm where my brothers and sisters and I grew up was sold almost a century after our grandfather bought the property, which is located in a far corner of Warren County on the Big Black River. With the sale of the place I had known and loved all my life and where my husband Kos and I had returned to live 28 years ago, I felt a pressing need to photograph and paint the farm, to celebrate its sounds and smells, its homes and barns, and its singular place of worship, Rose Hill Church. These buildings, with their long and complex histories, go back far beyond my lifetime, but they still resonate with the lives they sheltered and contained. I wanted to record and remember the farm in all its various colors and seasons, and I wanted to express my love for the place where I was born and raised. I wanted to celebrate its trees and flowers, originally planted and tended by my grandmother and mother, and now maintained by my sister Hester and cousin Minor. And I wanted to celebrate the people, black and white, for whom the farm has always been home. Though they may not appear in most of these landscapes, their presence figures strongly in each one. Many of those people are gone now, forever missed. These paintings are inspired by the beautiful world they worked so hard to create and by the cherished memories they leave behind.
The medium of encaustic allows me to layer and collage my monotypes and figure drawings, creating a surface at once rich and luminous. I find that there is no landscape more interesting to me than the body and no terrain more fascinating than the face.
In the Shadow Series, I explore a fascination with shadows, using a number of techniques, including printmaking, collage, photography, and painting. I find each step of the process compelling, a bit like creating my own shadow plays, in which I serve as director, producer, set designer, and even, on occasion, actor.
My pastels deal primarily with the human form; they are usually portraits, often oddly cropped and inspired by family photos. I find that there is no landscape more interesting to me than the body and no terrain more fascinating than the face.
