Artist Statement - Botany Series
Early morning hike at Canyon of the Ancients
I’ve always been a walker. That, and a bit of a scavenger. Inevitably as I journey home, my pockets will contain a few rocks, a handful of seed pods or interesting sticks, and maybe a dead bug or two. Goethe purportedly observed, “You really do not see a plant until you draw it.” And so, the “walk” continues in my studio, where I draw and paint and make mixed media pieces with collected natural objects.
Recently this collection expanded to include over 400 deaccessioned herbarium sheets. In herbaria, preserved botanical specimens render the ephemeral permanent, filed as part of a genetic library telling a scientific story. But that’s not the only story plants can tell.
Civilizations throughout time have imbued plants with symbolic meaning and, in some cases, magical powers. Many of the earliest written records concern the study of botany: categorizing plants, studying their physical characteristics, and cataloging the effects they induce on mind and body. As such, plants were attributed with metaphysical powers and came to represent abstract ideas or qualities.
Rescued from the dusty storerooms, repurposed herbarium samples now tell multiple stories. Weaving drawings through and around the selected specimen, I create pieces that speak in dialog with science to illustrate stories of culture, history, and the environment.
The Botany Series illustrates a marriage of the objective and subjective, the fanciful and the factual. To paraphrase author Jonny Diamond, a successful piece is “defined as much by its tangents as its destinations – by its opportunities for noticing.” My goal is to keep noticing. And to make artwork that helps others notice as well.
