Artist's Statement

Assorted Sea Glass

There is no perfection in this work. In fact, there is the opposite--all manner of things broken, discarded and abandoned. “Trash”--natural or man-made--whether found on the shore, in the ground or headed for the landfill is my medium of choice. Things break. Fragments are everywhere. Bits of our planet and our history--our legacy--remnants deemed useless in a society idolizing perfection.

But what happens when some of the debris is gathered, honored and reconfigured into a new and different whole? These assemblages are one possibility, as art and as a sociological observation. Metaphorically, I consider what the world might look like if every individual and imperfect person was embraced as an equally essential part in the creation of a new paradigm. What would happen if everyone worked together to both “lighten the load and brighten the spirit?

Back of Secret Garden Club

On A Blue Moon      2006

At the core of all this work is reclaimed glass. It conducts light, boasts an enormous array of color and is our most sustainable material. Shards remain unchanged from how they are found. Stone, shell, metal, wood, pottery etc. define and contrast.  The completed work is three-dimensional on the back, appearing two-dimensional from the front, suggesting a disparity between reality and perception. Unlike traditional stained-glass windows, these collages change constantly when backed by natural light.

 Liquid Fire      2009

Each assemblage is steeped in a liquid fixative medium and many of the natural elements and much of the glass has also been steeped in the sea. Individual fragments inform my head, heart and hands in finding their unique role in the landscape of the whole. Completed work can be suspended or permanently installed.

In all formats, I explore the irregular beauty of nature, the more rigid principles of geometry and the freedom of abstraction, constantly drawn to the dynamics and interrelationship between the universal shapes (spiral, circle, triangle, cross, square) and their seemingly endless combinations.

 I also offer a variety of hands-on workshops on this assemblage process, working with repurposed materials and eco-arts gardening projects.