Understory, January 2020

I was born in the forest. I grew up alongside the sugar maples and eastern hemlocks. As I navigated childhood and adolescent anxieties, the deciduous chaparral of rural Connecticut proffered solace and protection. In the course of my lifetime, the global climate crisis has assumed an unnervingly apocalyptic narrative that threatens the stability of this forest. My art explores the destruction of both a physical and psychological environment. I start each piece with a layer of powdered charcoal in order to emulate the grittiness of the forest floor. From there, I add layers of paint, charcoal, pastel, collage, and cut paper until I achieve both chaos and stillness in the composition. The scale of the piece completely envelops the viewer, allowing them to find repose of their own.