I am a interdisciplinary artist, I draw, paint, and plant trees. My focus is on biologically belonging to the world. This is not a cult of nature, but I am placing my biological identity and its ancient roots first. My work does reflect what is elemental in Nature, i.e., the simultinatity of growth/energy and decay/death. My art is an extension of this view of life. These opposites in nature are presented symbolically in my drawings. In addition, my rogue tree planting allows me to define myself through the freedom and decision making of placement, many of my tree plantings are in historical graveyards.
In 2015 I began planting trees in the wetlands of Lincoln, Rhode Island as a personal way to interact with nature and finding my own identity. I worked within nature as an undergraduate many years before. This new work developed into planting trees in historical graveyards in northern Rhode Island. The planting of trees in graveyards is an ontological way to stand with nature. By planting Dwarf Alberta Spruce trees I am marking loss. They remain roughly human size during there slow growing period. I check in on the health of my trees from time to time, in a number of years I should have human size trees inhabiting the graveyards of northern R.I. . Planting has brought me closer to the earth, if only for short periods of time.
The 2019 Tree Farm exhibit at University of Rhode Island Project Space is an extension of the Planting Project. I brought small Dwarf Spruce trees into the gallery so that University of Rhode Island students might take a tree with them to plant somewhere of their choosing. On the gallery walls were my paintings that reflected the more symbolic side of my art making. As URI students planted these trees from my exhibit I could see that “social sculpture” project was expanding the tree planting that was ongoing.