Artist Statement

Working within the tradition of landscape, my prints embody environments pared down to basic elements: line, shape, space, and color. Initially, I was interested in working from personal photos taken during travels, which often included vast landscapes. As I continued to investigate, what caught my attention were complicated spaces that could be pared down and evoke emotion within the viewer. I began to look at photos of natural disaster destruction for their haphazard and unconventional structures. I want to push the viewer’s experience further with a feeling of something larger than themselves. Emptiness is evident in each print whether they depict the calm before the storm or the aftermath of a high velocity tornado. Also, the lack of people lends itself to the idea of a desolate landscape.

My experience as a painter gave use for my previous knowledge coinciding with the world of printmaking. Currently, my work consists of monotypes which yield singular, unique prints. The original image translates into gradated color fields then continues to evolve into abstraction with the addition of line. The atmosphere and spatial references are created through building up and reduction of mark. Weather and the air within the surroundings became prominent which lead to non-literal colors of a landscape. I strive for the emotional response from viewer to become stronger than their association to a specific place.