Artist Statement

Drawing is a physical expression of seeing that makes possible a more intensely focused and multilayered exploration of the world. My work is grounded in drawing the perceptual and experiential landscape. I work in the woods, which enables me to directly experience my subjects. Created over many visits, the drawings explore ideas of time, investigation, and the unexpected.

Drawing perceptually utilizes the experience of how the human eye encounters the landscape. I compress multiple perspectives—looking down, looking across, and looking up—into one picture plane to give the viewer the sensation of looking in multiple directions while sitting in the same place. There is no depth hierarchy; my work seeks out the interesting, no matter where it sits in space. Thus I am rendering the reality of how I experience the landscape.

I do not plan compositions in advance. Instead, I expand out from a single point, using what I have already drawn to determine where the next mark should be. As the drawings grow, I may add additional panels. The scale of the page in many of the works makes the drawings difficult to absorb in one glance, and as a result the viewer’s eye meanders through the piece in the same way it moves through the actual space.

In the work, value does not communicate light, but instead acts as a descriptor of form and architecture. I work in black and white in order to concentrate on experiencing the physicality of a place over a period of time. My medium of choice is lithography crayon, used alone or with water on sealed paper. The marks sit prominently on the surface, causing them to appear more immediate and substantial.

Apart from communicating a perceptual experience, the work strives to connect the viewer with a sense of place. I prefer areas with wildlife, as they feel more natural, active, and private. The sense of calm or unease that a place engenders, and the presence or lack of sufficient cover, contributes to its possibilities as a refuge. The best places are the ones where hikers pass by twenty feet away without ever having known I was there.

Nature delights in presenting unique and unexpected combinations. I look for a site’s hidden functions, strange forms and sounds, and for the animal encounters I do not expect. I embrace the accidental in my work, engaging in a dialogue that draws in all the inadvertent discoveries that come with inhabiting a place. Being in the woods allows me to forge a relationship with each site through drawing, and arrive at a deeper personal understanding of place.