Regeneration
This ongoing body of work finds further uses for ‘single use’ packaging. An act of recognition, resistance, and devotion to emergent beauty and repair in the ruins of overconsumption.
The Question
7 feet x 12 inches diameter
Pieces of plastic election signs and heat-fused cereal bags, pigment ink, and hemp thread.
With a humble nod to the most influential writer in the English language, this piece grapples with how modernity hampers Earth’s capacity to sustain Life. The words of Shakespeare’s Hamlet still resonate centuries later. By inserting a few words in the middle of Hamlet’s one line to make it a pair, I offer an ecocentric, purpose-oriented version of the question visualized as a double helix scroll akin to canonical units of genetic code.
Community Projects
I have been honored with opportunities to witness how engaging with and making art can connect diverse groups of humans in powerful ways.
Tree of Life Walking Labyrinth
20 x 20 feet, acrylic on canvas
This work was created for a summer solstice festival which had a theme: the spiral archetype. The design is based on the Baltic wheel labyrinth which contains a double spiral. The work celebrates mindfulness and kinship with Nature, inspired by the resilient sycamore trees and their intertwining roots clinging to the banks of the many creeks that flow through the land where I live.
Treasure School
This artwork, funded by a Voices for Change ArtsWestchester grant in 2023, supports the work of Riverkeeper which protects the Hudson River and the surrounding watersheds. The work included a culminating slide presentation for Washington Irving School students whose decorated fish were integral to the art.
The piece is constructed almost entirely out of fused plastic packaging in the shape of the largest Atlantic sturgeon ever sighted in the Hudson River, at 14 feet long. The Atlantic sturgeon is one of many fish species listed as endangered. Additional embellishments were made from bottles, caps, and other trash removed from the Hudson Estuary at the Riverkeeper Sweep 2023 event in May.
Hands of Hope
This portable art display banner was a collaborative art project with asylum-seeking youth from Central America and members of the Christ Church and San Marcos parish in Tarrytown, NY. Everyone was encouraged to trace their hand on fabric and decorate it as they wished. To honor the asylum seekers, parishioners were given paper stars to write a message of hope and affirmation.
108 x 36 inches (18 x 36 inches folded); assemblage of embellished fabric and acrylic paint on accordion-folded corrugated plastic
Bridge of Hope Mural
This goal of this mural project was to beautify an outdoor space and raise both awareness and funds for Foundation Cristosal, a human rights organization which supports victims of gang violence and poverty in Central America. The black outline style was chosen to pay homage to the traditional art style of El Salvador while facilitating a paint-by-number approach. The wall was painted in multiple sessions by all ages in the local community, and much fun and fellowship was had by all!
402 x 81 inches (33.5 feet wide by 6.8 feet tall); acrylic paint on vinyl siding, window frame, and drainpipe
You Belong Banner
This was an collaborative project that engaged both developmentally disabled adults and asylum-seeking youth from Central America. The adults contributed drawings for the ground from which the tree grows, and the children were given bird templates to personalize. The banner was a gift for Abbott House, in Irvington, NY, to welcome asylum-seeking children staying there temporarily. Each child was encouraged to take their bird with them when it was time to leave.
36 x 84 inches; mixed media acrylic with cut and sewn canvas, felt, crayons, markers, and printed cardboard
Rainbow Collage Puzzle
This project was completed with developmentally disabled adults who were encouraged to hunt for and cut out images from old magazines that corresponded with specific colors. They worked in pairs to glue the colored scraps in place on the outlined puzzles pieces. Putting it all together and recognizing the rainbow was a challenge and revelation for all.
24 x 54 inches; old magazine remnants mounted on hand-cut foam board
