Past Work > Sculptures

I build invented species of nature constructed from hand made paper and combined with found industrial and natural debris. These sculptures are improvisations on the structures and visual qualities of plant and animal life: fusions of leaves, fern parts, insect antennae, exoskeletons, pods, vine, tentacles, skins, fins, and wings.

Keeping in mind the color, textures, and forms I have seen and wish to extrapolate from nature, I fabricate papers using abaca and pigments. I beat the fiber to achieve a specific strength and luminosity, and carefully mix colors. Using chemicals, I suspend two colored pulps in a vat so that the sheets of paper are often speckled with color, much like the dappled yellow and red maple leaves of autumn, and then dip into the vats of prepared paper pulp and form sheets.

Manipulating these wet sheets, I experiment as I go along. I tear, cut, twist, pierce and fuse pieces together, allowing the paper to shrink and buckle in the process of drying, to mimic natural topographies. At times the papers are restrained under weight to achieve a smooth diaphanous surface like that of a membrane or insect wing.

My mind travels as my hands work. Torn, pierced fragments are pressed together to become the thorax of an unnamed creature or a frond of a never-seen-before leaf. Wet strands are woven and choreographed into a mesh of cocoon-like forms.

Some hybrids are built solely with abaca; others are formed by binding paper to debris found on the street. I might imagine and make rust-colored abaca paper tendrils sprouting out of a pocked piece of metal, or construct quirky standing forms by cutting paper strips and wrapping them around a series of tree pods. A menagerie grows.

These sculptures can be exhibited in different ways: individually, in small group configurations, or amassed in large groups to form room sized environments.

Each constructed world is an investigation. I begin by moving pieces around the wall and floor to see which hybrids might belong together, often recycling components from past installations. As elements are arranged they begin to form constellations that float across walls. Parts coalesce; rhythms develop and build energy. Finally, a universe emerges -- quirky, unpredictable and in the midst of transformation.

Fertile Ground #6
artist made paper and scavenged material
84" x 18" x 20"
1999
Fertile Ground #11
wood and artist made paper
43" x 66" x 54"
1999
Growing Wild #74
artist made paper
10" x 30" x 6.5"
1997
Fertile Ground #89
scavenged material
10" x 10" x 9"
1999
Growing Wild #116
artist made paper and scavenged material
11" x 9" x 3"
1997
Growing Wild #58
artist made paper
35" x 20" x 16"
1997
Growing Wild #132
artist made paper and scavenged material
7" x 9" x 2.5"
1997
Growing Wild
scavenged material
6.5" x 3" x 1"
1997
Growing Wild #145
scavenged material
9" x 9" x 4"
1997
Growing Wild #72
scavenged material
7" x 6" x 4"
1997
Growing Wild #8
scavenged material
12" x 2.5" x 1"
1997
Growing Wild #176
artist made paper and scavenged materials
9" x 6.5" x 2"
1997
Fertile Ground #43
artist made paper and scavenged materials
43" x 13" x 9.5"
1999
Gowanatopia
Scavenged metal and plastic; broccoli stubble, grapevine, sugar cane and other natural debris
10' x 7'5" x 7'8"
2009
Fertile Ground #45
artist made paper and scavenged materials
5" x 6" x 1"
1999
Growing Wild #23
artist made paper and scavenged materials
5" x 4" x 1"
1997
Growing Wild #3
artist made paper and scavenged materials
9.5" x 11" x 4"
1997
Growing Wild # 143
artist made paper/abaca
43" x 14" x 7"
1997
Fertile Ground #16
artist made paper, metal, birch bark
49" x 18" x 19"
1999
Fertile Ground #16, detail
artist made paper, metal, birch bark
1999
Fertile Ground #5
artist made paper, metal, broccoli stubble
63" x 30" x 30"
1999
Ground Springs, installation detail
artist made paper and scavenged materials
size variable
2002
Growing Wild #53
artist made paper and scavenged materials
20" x 6" x 4"
1997