Finding A Place
A body of work made during an artist residency at Tidal Art Centre in Lund, BC.
Summer 2020
Artist Statement
These are times of turning inward, keeping it close.
I’m contemplating phrases like “women’s work” and “Eve’s curse” in a world splattered with industrialization, competition and disconnection. In both nature and the feminine form, I notice connection between and coexistence of: earth, body, race, intimacy, pigment.
Horizon lines become hips and tidal pools become portals into the body.
The major forms in these works were placed by dipping and pouring natural color onto canvas in the tidal zone down in Finn Bay and terrain nearby Tidal Art Centre. I’ve made these natural dyes and paints made from marigold, foraged copper, indigo, cochineal (desert beetles) and cutch.
Pouring color feels more like giving birth than being in control and I prefer this state of making. It’s a flow and discovery to see what happens, how paint makes shape and depicts the earth it streams over.
Then there’s stitching, which holds a lot of history: quilting, embroidery, patchwork. These practices are traditionally work completed by women, a long history of unrecorded and undervalued effort. The stitches in these works are the highlights and the way light travels over the land and water.
So these works have been made by the earth and a woman’s hands.
Enjoy more details about the materials and process of each piece by scrolling down.
Rise Up!
Thickened natural dyes & paints made from marigold, copper pipe, indigo, iron & cochineal (beetles) on raw canvas
25 x 37”
Golden Hour
Thickened natural dyes & paints made from marigold, copper pipe, indigo, iron & cochineal (beetles) on raw canvas
25 x 30”
Water on the Inside 1
20 x 20
Water on the Inside, 1-4
This series of paintings was poured on raw canvas, laid flat, and then sewn together with blocks of naturally dyed and up-cycled fabrics.
The forms reference tide pools and the maternal body.
Materials: Thickened natural dyes & paints made from marigolds, copper pipe, indigo, iron & cochineal, on raw canvas. Naturally dyed and up-cycled cotton and linen fabrics. Stretched on 1.75” depth bars.
Read about each color source in more detail below.
Water on the Inside 2
24 x 32”
Thickened natural dyes & paints, naturally dyed & up-cycled fabrics.
Water on the Inside 2
The blue paint and the blue block of fabric on the bottom of this piece is derived from indigo.
Water on the Inside 3
24 x 32”
Thickened natural dyes & paints, naturally dyed & up-cycled fabrics.
Water on the Inside 3
The bright yellow is from marigolds dried and made into a thickened natural dye that was poured onto this raw canvas. The yellow turns to olive green where marigold has been mixed with iron.
Water on the Inside 4
24 x 32”
Thickened natural dyes & paints, naturally dyed & up-cycled fabrics
Water on the Inside 4
My favorite, the turquoise, is derived from a copper pipe found in the tidal zone.
Finding a Place ink drawing series
Foraged inks and earth pigments mixed with soy milk on archival, cotton paper. Click on the images above to enlarge.
Tidelines 1-4
Thickened natural dyes made from indigo, marigold & cutch on raw linen, silk embroidery. Paint poured in the tide zone of Finn Bay, Lund, BC.
Me & White Supremacy
These paintings are a contemplative response and processing of reading Layla Saad’s book, Me & White Supremacy. These are skin color, abstract landscapes made with earth pigments and soy milk, an expression of the lifelong work of anti racism and finding ways forward.
These are very much a work in progress, as am I.
Finding a Place at Tidal Art Centre, Lund, BC
Thank you for spending time with this work. A special thank you to Tidal Art Centre & Nancy for such a precious time. Below are a few snaps of our time at the residency.
If you are interested in acquiring one of these paintings, see available work here or send me a note.
