- Categories:
- All
- Drawings
- Interventions in Nature
- Participatory Drawing Projects
- Photographic Work
- Snow Drawings
- Video Installations
- Video Performances
Yampa River – Snow Drawing Project, CO 2016
Similar to the earlier project We Are the Water this Yampa River Snow Drawings project attempts to draw the flow of the Yampa River on frozen Lake Catamount. While the first piece focused on the idea of a flowing stream in a stylized sense, this second project attempts to mimic the actual flow of the Yampa River, as it once wiggled itself through the valley in meanders – before the river was dammed to become Lake Catamount.
The piece was created with approximately 50 community participants, who zigzagged across the lake – guided by 4 lead-walkers, who defined the bending points to draw a meandering flow.
Project PageSnow Drawings – Stone Quarry Hill Art Park, NY, 2016
These Snow Drawings were created during a participatory art and nature event in winter 2016. Participants included communities of Cazenovia, NY and the larger Syracuse area. In a 1-day effort (Saturday January 23rd) we filled up all of the Art Park’s open spaces with spiral shapes. The event attracted a large number of participants, who contributed their time end effort throughout the day. Images and video footage were shot with the help of professional drone photographers, who took advantage of light and shadow, as the sun moved across the piece from the morning to the late afternoon.
Project PageSnow Drawings – Denali National Park, Alaska, 2015
In March 2015 I conducted a Snow Drawings project at Denali National Park in collaboration with National Park staff and 60 high school students from surrounding schools. Our Snow Drawings day was exceptionally cold at minus 25 degrees Fahrenheit, and I admired the students’ dedication and endurance. Since we were not granted permission to take aerial photos I shot ground-shots during the event. The ground perspective helps emphasize the beauty of the Alaska landscape that we embedded the artwork into.
Project PageSnow Drawings – Saari Foundation, Finland, 2015
I had planned for a large-scale Snow Drawings project on the Archipelago Sea outside the city of Turku. However, due to an extraordinarily mild winter, the ice was not thick enough and we had barely any snow during my seven weeks stay at the Saari Foundation’s Artist Residency. Toward the end of my stay I was able to create a small piece on surrounding fields. With the help of 15 hardy participants we fought against gusty winds and snowdrifts. I was able to capture some of our patterns on photo before the wind blew them away.
Project PageSnow Drawings – Briancon, France, 2014
This piece was created in February 2014 and is the first of two Snow Drawings projects in the Valley of Serre Chevalier – a skiing area in the French Alps. The piece was created over two days with the help of approximately 70 participants. The piece extends around a mountainside and was photographed from a helicopter during changing light conditions – between bright sunshine – which delivers good contrast and brings out the footsteps in the snow, and cloud cover – which lacks contrast and causes the patterns to vanish from sight.
Project PageSnow Drawings – Eychauda, France, 2014
This Snow Drawings project was created with approximately 12 volunteers over two days in the French Alps in February 2014. Planned as a 1-day project the ground perspective of the high-mountain valley proved deceiving, and the project had to be extended to a second day with additional volunteers. Situated in a “bowl” it was photographed from surrounding peaks and ridges, as well as from a ski lift.
Project PageWe Are The Water – Snow Drawings project
This Snow Drawings piece was created with approximately 50 volunteer performers, who collaboratively recreated – in an abstracted sense – the original flow of the Yampa River and its 4 main tributaries within Routt County, CO. The river is now dammed and the valley is filled with water. In a 4-hour effort the groups of volunteers walked across the lake on snowshoes to create a pattern of a general stream as well as paying tribute to the moods of water, as its flow may be slow or fast, rough or smooth, straight or meandering, whirling in circles and racing down rapids. The piece was photographed from an airplane the day after the event.
Project PageSnow Drawings at Catamount Lake, Colorado, 2013
Snow Drawings at Catamount Lake was created during the 3 days between Friday February 1st and Sunday February 3rd 2013 in a joint effort with over 60 volunteers from Steamboat Springs and vicinity, who helped me walk giant spiral patterns with snowshoes . Despite deep, heavy snow that made walking difficult and strenuous we managed to create a stunning art piece on the frozen snow-covered lake. I was greatly impressed of the piece that revealed itself when I flew over the lake the next morning to take photos.
Project PageSnow Drawings at Rabbit Ears Pass, Colorado, 2012
Snow Drawings at Rabbit Ears Pass was created with a group of community volunteers from Steamboat Springs and Hayden, Colorado, on two weekends in January/February 2012 – to both sides of the highway that leads across the mountain pass.
Project PageSnow Drawings, Hayden, Colorado, January 2011
These Snow Drawings were created at Carpenter Ranch near Hayden/Steamboat Springs in Northern Colorado. Some of the drawings were on the frozen Yampa River, others on grazing lands close to the river. The large piece in the Yampa River bed took me several days – always coming back to continue where I had left ff the previous day. I was lucky to have clear weather and no snowfall during the days I was working on this piece.
Project PageSnow Drawings, Ooms Pond, NY, 2011
Snow Drawings at Ooms Pond were created on a small frozen lake near Chatham, NY (Ooms Conservation Area). Local residents contributed their active help to the work on the lake on a weekend in January 2011. Other pieces were created on the lands of Millay Colony Artist Residency nearby.
Project PageSnow Drawings, Snowmass Village, Colorado 2009
I created my first Snow Drawings during an Artist Residency in the Colorado Rocky Mountains in February/March/April 2009. They started out of play during snowshoe walks and gradually evolved into an arts project over the course of my 3-month artist residency.
Project PageParticipatory Drawing – Abrams Claghorn Gallery, Albany, CA, 2016
This participatory drawing was created on the gallery floor at Abram Claghorn gallery. Compared to other pieces of this series it was a slightly smaller scale drawing that was created by 2 participants and myself. We worked on this piece for approximately 3.5 hours, and then carefully selected compositions of the piece to cut smaller drawings of various formats.
Project PageParticpatory Drawing – Blue Mountain Center, NY, fall 2016
I conducted this collaborative drawing project with a group of writers and social activists during an artist residency at the Blue Mountain Center in the Adirondacks (NY state). The drawing was created in several sessions over the course of a week in fall 2016. The drawing meetings also served as a platform for discussion about pressing topics, such as the upcoming 2016 presidential elections.
This was the first Participatory Drawing that was cut up to create smaller drawings. An empty picture frame and rulers helped us frame compelling pieces. This “framing process” was engaging and fun for the entire group.
Project PageParticipatory Drawing – ArtSeed, San Francisco, summer 2016
This drawing was created in summer 2016 with the participants of ArtSeed’s children’s art program. The students were very diverse and their various ages and skill levels contributed to achieve a highly interesting and beautiful artwork. The resulting drawing was shown in an exhibition at the Thoreau Center for Sustainability in San Francisco’s Presidio Park. We were able to hang this large drawing from a beam on the ceiling, which allowed it to sway freely off the wall, lightly touching the floor. It was a great pleasure to work with this group of talented young artists.
Project PageParticipatory Drawing – Kala Art Institute, Berkeley, CA, 2016
This Participatory Drawing Project was started during “Dance Anywhere”, a worldwide dance and movement event held each year during one specific day in March. The drawing was left on the wall at the Kala Art Institute in Berkeley for an extended period of time, inviting Kala’s artist community to participate. The drawing progressed slowly but steadily, and I finally finished it, picking up on the various pattern ideas that had been started by other artists.
Project PageParticipatory Drawing – Shelburne Museum, Vermont, 2016
This was my first Participatory Drawing Project. It was executed in two sessions: one in an open workshop with the general museum public at the Shelburne Museum, and the second with a group of middle school students. We agreed to a simple circular pen gesture and focused on patterns and texture rather than form and object. While this keeps the drawing cohesive, the individual hand assures liveliness and adds to the success of the drawing.
Project PageProject in the Citrus Grove at Taliesin-West, Scottsdale, AZ, February 2011
During an artist residency in Scottsdale, AZ I was fascinated to find a citrus grove full of ripe fruit. While enjoying the fruit I also questioned their suitability for an arid region – and ultimately their water consumption to grow these juicy fruits. To my surprise I found out that the ancient Hohokam tribes once home in this region also grew crops that relied on irrigation.
I created labels for the fruits – to put them into context with the greater Phoenix environment, and to inspire thought and creativity. The oranges bear spiral-shaped excerpts from Pima Indian mythology. The grapefruits bear a Hohokam labyrinth. I attached the labels to the fruits in a ceremonial act, and after their harvest distributed them amongst the Taliesin community.
Project PageParadise Tree, Southern Spain, September 2008
My visit to coastal Southern Spain brought up childhood imaginations of biblical stories, set in a land of eternal sun, full of ripe, exotic fruits that I could only romanticize about as a Northern European child. Medieval paintings of paradise come to mind; Adam and Eve in the foreground and terraced landscapes towering behind them, barren at times, and yet mysteriously bearing delicious crops. I tried to find words reflecting what I saw, heard, smelled and experienced. I embroidered these words onto the leaves of a fig tree. The slow, meditative act of embroidering became a performance, commemorating myths of Moorish times telling of beautiful young women who, while being kept at home, were dreaming of passion and adventure. The embroidering process was documented on video. While the leaves would fall to the ground and decay in fall, the piece remains as an installation with 50 photo prints (13”x18”) and video.
Project PageSun/Moon Symbol, Wyoming 2008
Sun/Moon Symbol was created during a performance/ritual in the Northern Wyoming prairie. Using my step’s length for measurement I laid out a circle and filled out its perimeter with rooks. Its 2 main axis points in the 4 cardinal directions, the intermediates are marked in between them. The symbol resembles ancient sun symbols, as they appeared in very similar ways in indigenous cultures throughout world. In many cases the same symbol simultaneously represented the moon.
I coated the rocks with phosphorescent paint, so that they would glow for several hours after sunset and created a counterpart to the stars in a deep black Wyoming night. The absence of the moon caused the earth to “disappear” from vision, so that the symbol appeared to be hovering.
Project PageWATERLAND, Dynamo Expo, Enschede, Netherlands, 2014
WATERLAND is an artistic response to rising sea water levels as a result of climate change. Holland has been confronted with floods since its first settlements were established in the early middle ages. The installation WATERLAND explores Holland’s critical landscapes with the eyes of an artist, while at the same time examining Dutch solutions of water managements in past and present. It poses the question whether Holland’s approach, both technically and psychologically, might serve as a model for other coastal regions, including major metropolitan centers, such as the San Francisco Bay Area, which has so far not experienced flooding.
Project PageLiving off the Land – Nasturtium, Compound Gallery, Oakland, CA, 2014
This project examines Nasturtium as a culinary plant. Nasturtium grows in gardens and yards, and often in city parks and abandoned lots in residential areas. I invented a recipe for Stuffed Nasturtium Leaves – similar to Greek Dolmades. I served these appetizers during an opening reception at Compound Gallery in Oakland. They were arranged on flat ceramic plates that I had made after life Nasturtium leaves. About 44 plates of different sizes were laid out on shelves, and a video showed the preparation process of the stuffed leaves. At the end of the reception all Stuffed Leaves were eaten.
Project PageLiving off the Land – Rosendale NY, Spring 2013
Living off the Land is an art/research project that explores replacing cultivated food plants for plants that grow wild and can be obtained through foraging in immediate rural environments. My attraction to wild-growing edible plants stems from an ecological interest and attempts a response to discussions around the need to sustain ourselves in ways that preserve our planet’s environment and resources while providing better stewardship of our planet.
After preparing 13 different dishes from Garlic Mustard – considered an invasive green in the Hudson River Area – and documenting my processes on video, I organized a Garlic Mustard potluck dinner event, with handmade ceramic ware and sitting cushions. They bear designs of topographic lines, which attempt to link the herb to this specific environment.
Project PageYes, You Can Eat Them, Red Deer, AB, Canada, Fall 2011
In the small community of Red Deer I explored possibilities of using wild growing plants for food. I was surprised how many plants and their blossoms, fruits and roots are edible, not only wild-growing ones but also those planted in city parks for ornamental reasons, especially in fall when berries and fruits ripen. I learnt about traditional food preservation processes, such as jarring and drying. I documented all my processes on video – from fruit collection to their final food product. The result of this project was shown in the college’s gallery space on five media stations, each of them including two screens with videos, samples of preserved foods and a computer with short texts about each food item, and opportunity for audience feedback. In exchange for sharing experiences with wild growing foods, visitors were offered to take samples of the foods I had preserved.
Project PageThe San Francisco Bay – A Mediamorphology, Krowswork, Oakland, CA, 2012
This immersive video installation was created in collaboration with Chris Treggiari to explore the geomorphologic, natural and human history of the San Francisco Bay and of the City of Oakland. The main room installation gives an overview of the San Francisco Bay at large, with 5 videos and sculptural elements that replicate features around the San Francisco Bay. A smaller installation in a separate space focuses on present and past of the coastal neighborhoods of Oakland. Both pieces immerse the viewer in a surround experience and attempt to inspire curiosity and thought.
Project PageThe Three Gorges – 3rd Edition, Organhaus Gallery, Chongqing, China, 2011
The natural environment of the Three Gorges of the Yangzi River has been altered through human hand, as the recent completion of a giant dam has increased the water level. While this dam generates an enormous amount of energy and improves ship navigation, it has also caused significant environmental problems. My installation takes a future stance exploring the verge between real reality and virtual reality, presenting an exaggerated man-made super-nature that is entirely removed from real reality.
Project PageWhere the Waters Meet, RedLine Gallery, Denver, 2011
Where the Waters Meet explores the history of Denver’s two main water streams and the city’s changing relationships to these two rivers throughout its existence since 1858.
Project PageReflections, PlatteForum Denver, July 2009
Reflections is the result of a mapping and research project of the city of Denver and its history. The installation integrates my own work with that of my course participants of “Learning Labs for Educators”, a 5-week summer course I taught for a group of art educators at PlatteForum Denver in collaboration with the University of Northern Colorado. The video installation has 5 stationary videos and one rotating video, which ensures almost endless constellations of overlapping projections.
Project PageLayered Perspectives, UNC-Charlotte, Rowe Gallery, Nov./Dec. 2009
The installation Layered Perspectives is the result of a collaboration between 11 art students during a Special Topics class titled “Mapping Charlotte” (University of North Carolina, Charlotte) and myself. Each student chose their own fields of inquiry according to their personal interests. These could include city neighborhoods, time periods in history or specific community groups. Our work consisted of photo and video-mapping, interviewing and historical research. The 6 video projections run through the different topics simultaneously, gradually dissolving from one to the next. Charlotte – a pristine banking town – lacks character and has preserved little of its 2 ½-century-old history. In response to the wish for a more creative city the students installed sculptural objects, which create odd angles and disrupt the image. The visitor becomes part of the piece as s/he wanders through the installation, picks up projected images and casts shadows.
Project PageEagle Lake – Night Impressions, 2017
I shot this series of night shots during an artist residency in the Adirondack Mountains. I tried to capture the tranquil mood during these rural nights in a landscape dominated by water and country-style living that revolves around nature, boating and water activities. Over the course of my 4-week stay the light changed due to the moon phases and weather – from very dark starry nights to overcast and then moonlit landscapes. I illuminated human elements, such as boats and buildings with lights and flashlights.
Project PageEagle Lake – Fog Impressions, 2017
These photos were shot during an artist residency in the Adirondack region in fall 2017. Some mornings I would wake to dense fog, that would burn off only slowly, revealing the landscape bit by bit, layer by layer, and finally breaking up into wafts of clouds that would drift off and create identical reflections in the mirror-smooth lake. I was especially fascinated with lake scenes, where piers would reach out into nothingness, and colorful fall foliage would hang over a body of water that was entirely undefined in its size and dimensions. I would sleep in a boathouse sometimes, on the ground of an open boat garage – looking out over the lake. Some mornings I would open my eyes to a shiny whiteness, that seemed almost apocalyptical.
Project PageToffia’s Domestic Canyons – Night Impressions, 2014
This series of night photographs was shot during an artist residency in Toffia, a medieval hilltop town in central Italy. The photographs will be printed digitally, and – accompanied by vignettes of text – they will also become part of a book (digital and/or printed). The texts reflect my outsider’s experience of Toffia and a summary of Toffia’s history.
Project PageWall Size Drawings, 2010-2015
As my drawings became progressively larger in size, they started to unfold into entire universes, or systems of organisms. All of these drawings are created with archival Indian ink pens on paper. They are all mural size, most of them are 60×150 inches. The largest, however, wrap around a corner and are 107 inches high and 33 feet long.
Project PageInk Drawings, 2003-2007
his series of drawings was initially inspired by a real object – an Osage orange – a citrus fruit the size of a grapefruit, but with gnarly green skin (not edible). While the earlier pieces bring to mind seedpods found in plants, the later drawings have increasingly detached themselves from the depiction of objects to become porous amoeba-like shapes. Some of them resemble microorganisms, deep-sea creatures or microscopic imagery of cells and membranes. These resemblances are not intentional, and as an artist I want to inspire my audiences to let their fantasies roam. The drawings are not preconceived; my drawing process is generally meditative and the shapes develop out of a mesh of small pen movements. I draw with pens containing permanent Indian ink. Correcting/erasing my marks is not an option, a challenge I appreciate as it keeps up a dialogue of constant response and decision-making throughout the entire drawing process, which can be several days.
Project PageIceland – Mountain Performance, Abrams Claghorn Gallery, Albany, CA, 2017
In this performance I traced projections of Icelandic landscapes – layering lines upon lines. The performance was repeated 3 times on top of each other – each time using the video of the previous performance as a new backdrop.
Project PageBird Performance, Alameda, CA 2018
In this video performance I was running after birds that were projected on a wall in a fast sequence. I was trying to trace as many of them as I possibly could. I layered 2 performances on top of each other, duplicating myself.
Project PageFloating Dreams, Healdsburg, CA, 2018
I sealed handwritten dreams from an eventful life chapter in small bottles and floated them on a water collection pond. Visitors were invited to catch the dream bottles and bring them ashore with the help of a “dream catching tool”. They had the choice to keep their dream sealed or open the seal and take them out of the bottle to read them.
Project PageSnow Drawings, Truckee, CA, 2016
This Snow Drawings project was conducted near Lake Tahoe at a UC Berkeley biology field station during a 2-day weekend. It drew participants from the surrounding communities as well as visitors from the San Francisco Bay Area, who came together to create art and enjoy winter snow activity in a beautiful Sierra Nevada landscape.
Project PageCantabria Coast and Mountain Drawing, Fundacion Botin, Santander, Spain, 2016
In this piece I am tracing the reliefs of the Cantabrian coast and mountain landscapes on projected images to create an abstracted landscape drawing of its own right. I hope that the stark – but beautiful – ruggedness of this primordial landscape – that reminds of ancient earth history when our planet’s crust was forming – can spark contemplative thinking and awe for the natural world.
Project PageBlue Mountains (Australia) – Night Impressions, 2019
This photo series examines manicured landscapes at the edge of a National Park in the Blue Mountains region of Australia. The landscaping stands in stark contrast to the untamed nature surrounding it. I focused especially on artificial water collection holes that double as home recreation areas, and on an old loggers’ camp left abandoned in the forest.
The photos were shot at night with a flashlight and long exposures.
Project PageThe Clouds – Are They Actually Thinking? Deiglan Gallery, Akureyri, Iceland, 2017
This video installation is a reflection of my impressions of Iceland, its historic and mythological ties to the Nordic Sea. Viking life evolved around seafaring, storms, floods and other disasters.
According to Teutonic creation mythology, earth and everything on it was formed from the giant Ymir’s body. His skull became the firmament and his brain was tossed into the air to make clouds. Clouds are ever-present in Iceland, sometimes towering into huge formations, only to change or vanish shortly after. The clouds seem to be teasing – hence the title of the piece.
Project PageParticipatory Drawing, Olafsfjordur, Iceland, 2017
This Participatory Drawing was created during a weekend art festival in a small fishing town in Northern Iceland. The project engaged community members of all ages. We used black ink pens as well as fine-tip colored markers.
Project PageParticipatory Drawing – Berkeley Art Center, Berkeley, CA
For this Participatory Project we worked on several large-scale collaborative drawings simultaneously, catering to a diverse community of various ages and physical abilities. In addition to several ink drawings we also offered a colored drawing where children collaborated with adults. All drawings adhered to the same principle of small pen gestures to create a mesh of large patterns. In a fun process of contemplation participants found smaller compositions within the large drawing, which were cut out and could be taken home.
Project PageAustralia – Part 1, BigCi Artist Residency, NSW, Australia, 2019
This participatory outdoor installation reflects on my first-time experiences in Australia and my explorations of Australian flora, fauna, aboriginal culture and life-philosophies, as well as European explorer histories. I folded 105 star-shaped origami vessels. Each vessel contained pieces of inscribed bark that expressed my fascination with this new environment, its facts and stories.
Project PageAustralia – Part 2, BigCi Artist Residency, NSW, Australia, 2019
This participatory outdoor installation reflects on my first-time experiences in Australia and my explorations of Australian flora, fauna, aboriginal culture and life-philosophies, as well as European explorer histories. I floated origami vessels on a pond during an arts event. Visitors were invited to bring the vessels ashore. Each vessels contained pieces of inscribed bark that expressed my fascination with this new environment, its facts and stories.
Project PageNewsletter Signup Form ×