Tying Windknots
West Coast Biennial, Turtle Bay Gallery, Redding, CA, 2012
Tying Windknots, 2′ x 3′ x 2′, bicycle wheel, fur, rudder. Turtle Bay West Coast Biennial, 2012
Wind knots are an overhand knot put in the leader by poor casting, greatly reducing the breaking strength of the leader.
Don’t Look Back
1078 Gallery, Chico, CA, 2012
Don’t Look Back, 1950’s projector, fur, wood, motion sensor, 9′ x 2′ x 4’h, 1078 Gallery, 2012
As I looked through photo albums of friends and family I found all the women dressed in fur coats to ward off the Minnesota cold. This is a composite portrait of all the Grandmothers. As the viewer approaches the projector motor whirs and a flickering light projects onto the back of the fur coat.
Terra Incognita
1078 Gallery, Chico, CA, 2012
Homing, resin cast trout, blue light, digital sound recording of the Sacramento River, earphones, turned balsa wood, plasticine, 2′ x 2′ x 3′h, 1078 Gallery, 2012
Homing detail, resin cast trout, blue light, digital sound recording of the Sacramento River, earphones, turned balsa wood, plasticine, 2′ x 2′ x 3′h, 1078 Gallery, 2012
Siskiyou County is the part of the California map that Californians don’t know exists. We are in the real north of California, far north of San Francisco or Sacramento hence area youth proudly refer to this region as, “Far Nor Cal.” In ancient times, regions of maps that were unknown were labeled, “Terra Incognita.” In 1544, Sebastian Cabot drew a map of the Americas with “Terra Incognita,” scrawled across the land north of Baja California simply because it had not yet been explored. In 2013, Siskiyou County feels like the Terra Incognita of California. Masses of people whiz by on the freeway, but not many stay. None-the-less, the rest of the state covets the water in our waterways and the wood in our forests. Already dammed, the state is planning to enlarge the dam on the Sacramento River, destroying more river habitat and landscape, to send the waters south to farmlands in the Central Valley.
The deep forests surrounding the canyon are once again being clear-cut and the creatures living here pushed into ever-smaller reservoirs of habitat. This is causing more frequent incidents of wildlife confrontation with humans. Bears seeking food and new terrain are run down by cars and shot as “dangerous.” The natural inhabitants of this land, fish, birds, bears, and the local human population, are left to struggle on in a drained landscape-not receiving the benefits of this exploitation, largely unrepresented and mostly ignored by the government and the exploiters.
This collection, Terra Incognita, addresses human intervention in the environment. Hovering between science and nature, poetry and rational, these pieces have an overall connectedness to each other by an eclectic but kindred spirit that makes sense of many things and events that are our everyday experience. The North State is one of the last strongholds of wildlife and mountain river systems in California, and these sculptures explore the precious and precarious balance in which they hang.
Tea with Mother
1078 Gallery, Chico, CA, 2012
Tea with Mother, 2 x 4’s, ceramic cup, copper leaf, pendulum clock, rosary, fur coat, pink lipstick, 4′ x 4′ x 5’1″, 1078 Gallery, 2012
Tea with Mother detail, 2 x 4’s, ceramic cup, copper leaf, pendulum clock, rosary, fur coat, pink lipstick, 4′ x 4′ x 5’1″, 1078 Gallery, 2012
My mother was English and we drank tea in the afternoons. It was an excuse for any topic to be discussed. On occasion, she told fortunes from the tea leaves. (It was rumored, but never proven, that we have a gypsy relative who ran off with one of our grandmothers.) I built this piece the year she passed away.
The teacup is gilded in copper leaf. Copper is a conductive material; some homes in our area have copper roofs because the owners believe it will conduct spiritual energy into their living spaces. One banister is wrapped in fur from a coat she wore, and the other wears her lipstick color. The rosary sways back and forth... a petition, a prayer, a talisman. Talisman in Wikipedia is “an object which is believed to contain certain magical or sacramental properties which would provide good luck… A talisman must be charged with magical powers by a creator; it is this act of consecration or ‘charging’ that gives the talisman its alleged magical powers. The talisman is always made for a definite reason.”
Enough
1078 Gallery, Chico, CA, 2012
Enough, altered chair, orange, bell jar, 16″ x 16″h x 20″, 1078 Gallery, 2012
Siskiyou County is the part of California that Californians don’t know exists. We are in the real north of California, far north of San Francisco or Sacramento. Masses of people whiz by on the freeway, but not many stay. Nonetheless, the rest of the state covets the water in our waterways and the wood in our forests. Already dammed, the state is planning to enlarge the dam on the Sacramento River, destroying more river habitat and landscape. The deep forests surrounding the canyon are once again being clear-cut. “Enough” could refer to this situation or to the world in general, or yet again, to getting a good night’s sleep after a too-full day.
Shift Time
1078 Gallery, Chico, CA, 2012
Shift Time, plexiglass, skyhook, 1RPM motor, fishline, copper leaf, mylar, stools, 4′ x 4′ x 9′, 1078 Gallery, 2012
Shift Time refers to the time interval between gear changes in a transmission during which power delivery is interrupted. This is usually in reference to motor vehicles but can apply to any gearbox. Reducing shift time is important in performance vehicles or race cars because during shifting the vehicle is rolling without power to the wheels.