
Unfurling
Ferns and lichen, moss, wood, and leaves: fragile materials, vulnerable to the seasons and the elements. But also flexible and strong, resilient.
During long walks in the woods, I observed the hanging mosses, clinging lichens, and sprouting ferns as forms I wanted to incorporate into my work. They whispered to me of hair fluttering on the wind, veins splayed across branches, spines sprouting from the ground: body parts strewn about the forest. Over time this palette expanded to include wasp-nest paper, leaves, bark, metal leaf, and paint, all held together by wax and resin on wood panels.
This work springs from my personal experience with seasonal depression, which is closely tied to the landscape and weather patterns of the Pacific Northwest. It is also informed by my experience with physical disability, and three decades of dealing with the vicissitudes of my own body. While crafting this work, I was meditating on this, and the stories hidden away inside all of us–that inner wilderness in which we cache our questions and wounds, the parts of us that are fragile and vulnerable, the ways we grapple with the dark. And the ways we hope for light, for sight, to be seen.
I was also contemplating renewal and redemption: how we rise from the damp darkness, emerging like a fern unfurling from the forest floor, transforming decay into new life, creating something beautiful out of this beautiful mess.
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Each of these unique 3-dimensional mixed-media pieces is crafted by hand. Materials include wax, resin, paint, paper, botanical elements, metal leaf, and photography, on a wood panel. View the video above to see how they are crafted. Click an image below to enlarge and see the title and details for each piece. Visit the Shop to purchase an Original or a Print.
Fierce, 16x24, encaustic and mixed media on wood panel
Choker, 12x18, encaustic and mixed media on wood panel
20 Concussions, 16x24, encaustic and mixed media on wood panel
What Lies Beneath, 16x24 encaustic and mixed media on wood panel
At 50, 16x24, encaustic and mixed media on wood panel
Radiation, 12x18, encaustic and mixed media on wood panel
Strength to Strength, 16x24, encaustic and mixed media on wood panel
Veil, 12x18, encaustic and mixed media on wood panel
Wilderness, 12x18, encaustic mixed media on wood panel
Thorn Necklace, 16x24, encaustic and mixed media on wood panel
Turning to Salt, 16x24, encaustic mixed media on wood panel
Insight, 12x16, encaustic mixed media on wood panel
Unfurling, 12x18, encaustic mixed media on wood panel
Generations, 12x18, encaustic mixed media on wood panel
Spreading, 12x18, encaustic mixed media on wood panel
Blocked Chakra, 12x18, encaustic mixed media on wood panel
Third Eye, 12x18, encaustic mixed media on wood panel
Anahata, 12x18, encaustic mixed media on wood panel
Things Unseen, 12x18, encaustic mixed media on wood panel
Undaunted, 12x18, encaustic mixed media on wood panel
Embalm, 12x18 encaustic mixed media on wood panel
Varicose, 12x18: encaustic and mixed media on wood panel
Grapple, 12x18: encaustic and mixed media on wood panel
Tendrils, 16x24: encaustic and mixed media on wood panel
Pulmonary, 12x18: encaustic and mixed media on wood panel
Green Woman, 12x18: encaustic and mixed media on wood panel
Hope for Light, 12x18: encaustic and mixed media on wood panel
Back, 12x18: encaustic and mixed media on wood panel