Small Windows

"Small Windows", the first step along the path of my final thesis for my MFA. It started as an intimate look at landscapes and otherwise ordinary scenes. This fine art series invites the viewer to get close and actually experience the photograph visually and emotionally. There is a personal connection to the work and the physical process is cathartic in many ways. The hands-on approach is a way to become part of the series as it communicates visually through me. The print is applied to wood by using an acrylic gel lift/transfer process in a square aspect ratio. Although the technical aspects of the series are important, they are simply a series of methods to procuce work with a high level of personal connectivity and to support the imagery.

The content and depiction is merely a means to an emotional end. It can be interpreted as being serene, nostalgic, peaceful or haunted, and depending on the viewer's state of mind, they too will connect with the series in an emotional way.

Soul of the Land

In the still and in the storm, there exists the quiet landscape. Let me listen to the earth and return to the land, of which I am part. Let the landscape speak as a visual metaphor and reveal my connection to the earth and to all of my experiences, emotions, and people of my past. Much like these landscapes have been manipulated by humanity, I have been shaped and manipulated by the people of my past. Sometimes this refelction of my past is dark and depressing, yet I always find an escape. While in the landscape, I am healing; while making art, I am healing When crafting an object by hand, from a subject loved, I am healing.

Although Soul of the Land is first recognized as landscapes, there is evidence of something more. Symbolism, metaphor and subtle hints of lyrical conversations exist between subjects and titles, viewer and artists. Each piece has the ability to get the viewers to interact with the subjects, sometimes the subjects themselves- these are symbolic beacons for viewers to relate to and walk away from the work with a sense of peace, wonderment, nostalgia or longing. Juxtaposition, magical moments, anthropomorphism of the inatimate subjects, illustrative aesthetic, dreamlike tonality and poetic titles all add to the chance that a viewer might pause and ask, "why?"

Soul of the Land has many layers of meaning. On my side of the work, it is a cathartic journey of connecting to the landscape, crafting my image and making the art objects by hand. To the viewer, it is a presentation of the landscape and a reflection of myself that acts as a way to evoke an emotion in the viewer similar to what I feel when I am in the landscape making the work. These hand-made art objects are to be experienced and felt, physically and emotionally.

Projections.

Wet plate collodion self-portraits coming soon...