Miscellanea Paintings Artist Statement

The artwork here in the Miscellanea category is that which doesn't fit into a series. Most of it is early work. Some of it led up to the work I'm doing now. There are portraits, experiments with abstraction, sculpture, and installations. Two pieces: 'Stars' and 'Fire-towers', need some explanation.

'Stars' was part of an installation that was impossible to fully document. The viewer entered a dark room and sat on a couch. Opposite were two tv screens, with one image spanning them. It was the night sky, with the band of the milky way going across. Sounds of crickets and frogs could be heard as the stars twinkled. On the floor was a shallow pool of water which reflected the image of the sky. This provided a meditative and relaxing space in the fast-paced city. I wanted people to allow their minds to enter that contemplative state that stargazing inspires. People wrote notes saying they'd sat for twenty minutes or an hour, and left feeling calm and relaxed.

'Fire-towers' was from a Beltane Spring celebration. Down a trail was to be a play and a maypole dance. I provided this piece to mark the entrance to the woods. In Scottish tradition, Beltane was seen as a time of new beginnings. People and livestock passed between two fires, which were seen to have a cleansing aspect. It was also supposed to bring good luck in the next year. I made my wood piles into towers, and asked people to toss in sticks as they went through. The sticks symbolized all that they wanted to leave behind. Afterward I planted trees in the fire rings, to be fertilized by the ashes.