Forest Textures Series, 2003
My artwork is strongly informed by my previous career as a biologist and geologist, and this manifests itself in my attraction to natural processes and the time scales on which they occur. The medium I work in most is clay which is itself a product of chemical weathering of igneous and metamorphic rocks. Its fine texture allows me to make impressions of natural textures I encounter - to produce the textural counterpart of a photographic negative. I collect my "negatives" in the field and make my "positives" in my studio. I call this technique my "clay camera".
The textural qualities of my visual samples are enhanced by stains and glazes, many of which I produce from materials I find in or close to the sample areas. In my series of Forest Textures compositions, I have brought together mosaics of pieces that represent themes, processes, and interdependencies. Some, such as Birth of Pebbles, capture a specific, ephemeral event; others are more general. Paleozoic Forest 1 and 2 are reconstructions of some of the textures that occurred in the first forest in this area over 300 million years ago, and were derived largely from fossils.
These compositions are an invitation to explore visual and tactile experiences that we often miss as we walk through a forest.
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