Remains, Cobb Mountain Center for Art and Ecology, California, 2020
This installation was created at the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, in a forested region of Lake County, California. I draped large clay slabs over charred tree trunks that had been felled and/or burned in controlled burns – for wildfire prevention. The inside of each slab captures the bark texture. On the outside I imprinted text about traditional Miwok and Pomo lifestyles, and their ancient wildfire prevention methods; as well as contemporary quotes related to Covid, the climate crisis and racial/social injustice.
The clay for these pieces was harvested locally and fired in a traditional Anagama kiln, and fueled with that same wood that had been cleared to prevent wildfires. The local clay partly cracked in the firing. With the wood-fire buildup the installation reminds of destruction, devastation, the remnants of a disaster.
Australia – 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.
Australia – 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.
Floating 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.
Sun/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.
Paradise 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 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.