Land Views

15" x 22"

Watercolor and gouache on hot press paper

(detail)

(detail)

A Long Time Far from Home

51" x 56"

Acrylic and gouache on cotton shirt, yarn, nails

(detail)

This piece is part of a four-part series. Each piece is paint on a deconstructed or otherwise damaged textile that was once functional. The paintings examine clutter, deterioration, and the breakdown of utility in places that were at one time practical spaces.

This piece is a scene from my home. I grew up on what was at one time a working horse stable and riding school. The horses are gone now, the sheep play in the judges' box (pictured), and much of the original wood fencing is either missing or has been replaced with wire panels of fence. My parents were getting out of the horse business when I was young, so this transition of space from its original function is something that I watched over time, something that was an everyday, normal thing.

Every day, places such as farms, businesses, and homes deteriorate from lack of care, lack of funds, or any number of other reasons. Nowhere that I have been is this more obvious than Western New York. On a regular basis I drive by wreckages of barns that are little more than piles of wood covered in burrdocks and weeds, or homes that lean to one side as if blown by a heavy wind. I always wonder what it is that makes things falling apart around us seem so normal, when if we step back for a moment, we see what is really happening.