DYNAMICS OF FLOW
And the pretenders think the darkness is evil when God breathed the night.
Soundtrack Blueberries-DPR Ian
PURGE
Permanent Collection-Haegeumgang Museum,
Geoje, South Korea
I’d like to purge the hive minds that are killing the hive.
All these voices bark at me-
Open your mind so you can think just like me.
Dont you want to act like me?
Telling me how to be and what to see.
And in the end they want to be like me.
They tell me-
Fix what you say,
but my thoughts weren’t broken.
Follow their feet on a road that I’ve already taken.
With experience and debts I already paid.
To accept their small ideals and silly notions,
from tiny minds that have never been over oceans.
Followers always barking that they are leading the way,
when they never leave their screens and social media play.
I’m supposed to check my education, experience, heart at the door,
while you sell me garbage narriatives I wouldn’t pick up from the floor.
All these voices bark at me-
Open your mind so you can think just like me.
Dont you want to act like me?
Telling me how to be and what to see.
And in the end they want to be like me.
They tell me-
Fix what you say,
but my thoughts weren’t broken.
Follow their feet on a road that I’ve already taken.
With experience and debts I already paid.
To accept their small ideals and silly notions,
from tiny minds that have never been over oceans.
Followers always barking that they are leading the way,
when they never leave their screens and social media play.
I’m supposed to check my education, experience, heart at the door,
while you sell me garbage narriatives I wouldn’t pick up from the floor.
NO FEAR FOR THE FUTURE HORIZONS
My musings on the light and shadow of today and my hope for tomorrow.
Being stuck inside for months and then battling cancer has made me think and sketch a lot. I have pages of pieces to be made dealing with perseverance and survival. I’ve developed on paper only-two new techniques in my work. I think it’s important to always be creating as an artist.
Being stuck inside for months and then battling cancer has made me think and sketch a lot. I have pages of pieces to be made dealing with perseverance and survival. I’ve developed on paper only-two new techniques in my work. I think it’s important to always be creating as an artist.
THE MATERIAL
CONTRIVED DENIAL
HORIZON
38x49x4, Hand and heat manipulated fiber made from paper and plastic waste, 2020
I dream of a brighter, freer tomorrow. My peace is found at land’s end, staring into the sea, toward the horizon.
I dream of a brighter, freer tomorrow. My peace is found at land’s end, staring into the sea, toward the horizon.
Froth
ZONE ROGUE
24x1.5 2019
In northeastern France exists a place where an area of 460 square miles is permanently restricted from human inhabitation due to sheer numbers of unexploded WWI ordnance and pollution of heavy metals. The French government has allowed the land to return to nature, although some areas so heavily poisoned, plant life does not grow. It is estimated that a complete cleanup would take 300-700 years.The human mind is not unlike a lingering battlefield. We carry with us grudges, resentments, toxic obsessions. Ugly bits of our personality laying in wait to explode when someone digs into us. Poison we continue to regurgitate and chew on every day. Corners of our psyche where healing is probably no longer an option and nothing good will ever grow there again.
In northeastern France exists a place where an area of 460 square miles is permanently restricted from human inhabitation due to sheer numbers of unexploded WWI ordnance and pollution of heavy metals. The French government has allowed the land to return to nature, although some areas so heavily poisoned, plant life does not grow. It is estimated that a complete cleanup would take 300-700 years.The human mind is not unlike a lingering battlefield. We carry with us grudges, resentments, toxic obsessions. Ugly bits of our personality laying in wait to explode when someone digs into us. Poison we continue to regurgitate and chew on every day. Corners of our psyche where healing is probably no longer an option and nothing good will ever grow there again.
DETOURIST
Opioids show up in every corner of my life, like a creeping mold. It steals family and friends indiscriminately. It’s a thief robbing the living of talent, place, people, and ultimately life. My drive in this piece is a desperate longing for the madness to stop. My art won’t solve the crisis but I hope it can act as a salve to those personally involved. It is my firm belief that art can lend a voice to what the artist feels is important. This is my ultimate goal; create a conversation.
I write this as I’ve just lost another to the crisis. He became increasingly withdrawn in the past few years. I learned like many others when his Facebook went dark. I’ve lost count of the addictions admitted, the recovery days counted, and the lives lost announced via social media. It has become a conduit for folks to discuss their abuse and/or recovery. While I am glad the conversation is happening, how casual it has become still shocks me.
I can understand the lure of opioids. I received Diluiaded while in ICU for a health scare. I was in a fair amount of pain and quite concerned. Diluadid wiped everything away, the pain, the concern, my concept of space and time. It is no wonder that so many fall to its siren song.
It is festering epidemic will eventually touch us all. Epik High’s Over was my audio salve through the completion of this piece.
I write this as I’ve just lost another to the crisis. He became increasingly withdrawn in the past few years. I learned like many others when his Facebook went dark. I’ve lost count of the addictions admitted, the recovery days counted, and the lives lost announced via social media. It has become a conduit for folks to discuss their abuse and/or recovery. While I am glad the conversation is happening, how casual it has become still shocks me.
I can understand the lure of opioids. I received Diluiaded while in ICU for a health scare. I was in a fair amount of pain and quite concerned. Diluadid wiped everything away, the pain, the concern, my concept of space and time. It is no wonder that so many fall to its siren song.
It is festering epidemic will eventually touch us all. Epik High’s Over was my audio salve through the completion of this piece.
FEELINGS TOWARD ELSEWHERE
FIND ME IN YOUR DREAM
MOVE 1-7
Music is a constant in my life, as far back as I can remember. When people muse about, “The soundtrack of our collective lives,” on sentimental occasions, my life has one. Memories call to mind music, music takes me straight to time and place. So much so that some music, while loved, is archived far from my ears.
My art practice depends upon music. I can not work in silence. I also can not work against the raw experiential inspiration. The only way I can pull the art out of my head is to have a mental focus point, music. It’s a system of music and inspiration coming together and allowing creation.
Taemin’s voice is modern sorcery. A tonic for all that ails. His is music that makes you want to shh anyone speaking when it comes on. This series was driven by music alone. It’s what art should be; creativity steeped in sexuality and raw emotion.
LOST IN THE EPHEMERAL
ELEGANT SLAVE
II’d say my disposition is a sunny shade of black. It’s a bit of a contradiction, yes. Let’s just say that I can see clearly to find my way around in the dark.
SCRATCHING AN ITCH
MORE THAN THIS
FINDINGS
THAT THING THAT ENDLESSLY WHISPERS
JEALOUS GHOST-MOVEMENT TWO
HALFWAY HIDDEN
ACROSS BUTTERFLY WINGS
MOVEMENT OF MELANCHOLIC MISERY
NOTHING GROWS IN A HEARTLESS GARDEN
UNTITED-1 SERIES
DISCORD
JEALOUS GHOST-MOVEMENT ONE
JEALOUS GHOST-MOVEMENT THREE
THE NOISE OF MEMORY
And I wanted to scream how dare you! How dare you insinuate yourself into deeply personal decisions. How dare you demand action from me as if you know what is best for my family. How dare you speak with authority on things with which you are completely ignorant.
I wanted to scream but the hurricane did it for me. It railed, and blew, and destroyed, and all the while it screamed.
Then silence.
AVANTE
TODAY EXPANDS
PLAYING GOD
BREATH OF CHANGE
SEEING PAST GRIEF
THIS, THAT, AND THINGS THAT WHISPER
HYBRID
SAY MY NAME
20x30x3 2019
I’d been trapped in situations before but this one had no immediate way out. I’d been cuffed, searched, striped, and stowed away, I thought sleep no matter how lousy could soothe the pain. Locked door, dark room, one other body motionless in the opposite corner. Exhausted I silently climbed into the squeaky cot. She barely broke the silence with her informal greeting, “Who are you?” It was unusual to give my first and last in a greeting but I’d repeated my full name so many times that day it fell out, “Star Smart.” Her response made the sleep that had felt so close impossible. She answered quietly and sweetly, “NO, I’m Star Smart.” Her deep even breaths followed. Sleep came easily and quickly for her eluded me next for weeks.
I’d been trapped in situations before but this one had no immediate way out. I’d been cuffed, searched, striped, and stowed away, I thought sleep no matter how lousy could soothe the pain. Locked door, dark room, one other body motionless in the opposite corner. Exhausted I silently climbed into the squeaky cot. She barely broke the silence with her informal greeting, “Who are you?” It was unusual to give my first and last in a greeting but I’d repeated my full name so many times that day it fell out, “Star Smart.” Her response made the sleep that had felt so close impossible. She answered quietly and sweetly, “NO, I’m Star Smart.” Her deep even breaths followed. Sleep came easily and quickly for her eluded me next for weeks.
UMBRA
WHEN THE DAWN IS STILL DARK
GHOST IMAGES ARE SUBJECTIVE
Grief, it will burn the heart out of you. It will leave blackness inside you that threatens to encompass you. Over time the black hole will get smaller and start to fade. Believe it or not there will be a time when the blackness doesn’t seem big enough you will feel guilt for pleasures, joy, laughter.
GAZING TOWARD ETERNITY
I have a hard time sitting still. Once I experience something my brain starts to drift to what’s beyond. This work explores the idea of being firmly rooted while always looking forward to innovate, to create, and to teach. The piece’s “roots” are titanium coated quartz and its layers hand-formed and fire-sculpted acrylic textile. This process takes many hours, keeping at least part of me still.
Inspired by the album XX by Mino.
Tsunami of Art 2018, UNDR GAPI, Worldwide
On loan, Cica Museum, South Korea May 2019
Inspired by the album XX by Mino.
Tsunami of Art 2018, UNDR GAPI, Worldwide
On loan, Cica Museum, South Korea May 2019
MOMENTO MORI
Myth of the Shadow Sea
12.5”x12.5”x3” Tectonic 2018 Fire sculpted felt and silk Dezful Museum of Art Permanent Collection IRAN
Myth of the Shadow Sea is a piece hand formed and fire sculpted employing hand dyed silk cocoons and felt. The inspiration for this piece is the idea of adventurers who sail under the shadow of the moon seeking the treasure of a tree laden with Japanese silk worms.
This was my first fire sculpting adventure. It required many more safety tools than I was used to and I was rather uncomfortable. I was heavy influenced by BAP’s Noir album, my favorite piece of music for calming the furthest reaches of my mind and my soul. This is the first creation called Tectonic.
This was my first fire sculpting adventure. It required many more safety tools than I was used to and I was rather uncomfortable. I was heavy influenced by BAP’s Noir album, my favorite piece of music for calming the furthest reaches of my mind and my soul. This is the first creation called Tectonic.
MY OWN VOICE ECHOING BACK AT ME
12.5”x12.5”x3” Tectonic 2018 Fire sculpted felt, howlite SOLD Provence, France
Sand fascinates me. I love the look of it, its texture, the way it feels beneath my feet. I’m in awe of the many intricate sand castles I have watched Greg build as I lie across its expanse under an umbrella. I treasure each piece of beach glass, especially when I find a collected piece next to my coffee cup or laptop.
I often think of my memories like grains of sand, accumulated and blowing around. That was the inspiration for my most recent piece, as I layered and fire sculpted the waves into place. The howlite drilled but left empty with the purpose of what is yet to come. Press It by Taemin playing me through the many hours.
I often think of my memories like grains of sand, accumulated and blowing around. That was the inspiration for my most recent piece, as I layered and fire sculpted the waves into place. The howlite drilled but left empty with the purpose of what is yet to come. Press It by Taemin playing me through the many hours.
FISSURES-EARTH
FISSURES-FIRE
12”x12”x2” Tectonic 2018 Fire sculpted felt and wool
Scars…Wounds…Seen…Unseen
If a soul trusts you enough to share them with you
Know that you are treasured
If a soul trusts you enough to share them with you
Know that you are treasured
Empathy
7”D Token 2018 Fire sculpted felt and wool
AVAILABLE
Empathy is a manipulated work of fiber using layers of felt and heat to achieve shape, edge, and depth. It is the first creation called Tokens.
The depth of loss and the continued rebuilding after The Great Japan Earthquake and Tsunami was my inspiration for this piece. Further inspiration for this piece was ‘Satellite’ by SALTNPAPER.
It is part of The United Nations Relief Organizaion's Tsunami Awareness 2017.
The depth of loss and the continued rebuilding after The Great Japan Earthquake and Tsunami was my inspiration for this piece. Further inspiration for this piece was ‘Satellite’ by SALTNPAPER.
It is part of The United Nations Relief Organizaion's Tsunami Awareness 2017.
CRAZY DAISY
