Artist statement

I am an explorer of the poetics of existence. 

In my artistic practice – a continual entwinement of research, process and production – I allow the inner and outer dynamics of lived experience to transport me to the frontiers of human existence.  In the exploration of these frontiers I seek to encounter, discover, reveal, commune with and articulate the deepest aspects of human being, trusting my personal lived experience and expectation that what is revealed will confront and renew what is currently known or possible.

My work takes place through writing (journal, novel, poetry, essay, and other not-yet named forms), watercolour painting, photography, collage, performance, scrapbooking, installation, collaborative public performance and more substantially in my aesthetic and moral commitment to the truth of my existence in the world, and to that of each person and living thing.

I am committed to a vision of humanity that celebrates joy in all its instances, in the quiet pleasures of everyday life, the soaring satisfaction of a work achievement, the discretion of patience and the moments of self-sacrifice for others.

I consider that my background has both prepared and not prepared me for this task.  I have no artist training, nor did I consider before the age of 42 any aspect of myself fit to be an artist.  I had no artists in my family, nor did I ever see someone making a living from artistic work.  Many of my greatest achievements in other areas are traps for this one.  Yet the sweetness of my childhood, the love of my family and the wildness of my nature have been, I now see, brewing all along.  Obscurity has been a strange protection.

I am a beginner, and that, for me, is a state of continual enchantment which allows me to bring wonder to what others consider tired, ordinary and self-evident.

My willingness to start from nothing is my only strength.

I surrender to illegitimacy, frailty, vulnerability and judgement as I work to allow what is beautiful to make itself known.