Artist Statement

During the pandemic, I turned to my art practice for relief from anxiety. Painting gave me something positive to focus on, and it ultimately helped me feel connected with the outside world.  By using my own photographs, memories and growing knowledge of native flora and fauna, I created my own reality where humans and nature co-existed in sustainable ways. Today we continue to live in a time of chaos and with a tenuous existence with nature. There are no guarantees for the future and stopping climate change may not be possible.  I still find stress relief with painting.  My art practice gives me a way to observe and learn about the natural world around me and to feel a part of nature, instead of apart from it.

As a resident of Imperial Beach, I live near the Tijuana River estuary, which is one of the last undeveloped wetlands in Southern California. The estuary is an important stop over for migrating birds on the Pacific Flyway, but it's also the site of en ecological disaster because of sewage pollution from Mexico. These contrasting realities inform my artistic process. On one hand, I appreciate the incredible biodiversity of where I live every day. On the other hand, I haven't been to the beach in many years because of the pollution. In an effort to capture the tension of time passing, I paint with loose brushstrokes to convey urgency and immediacy. My art practice has given me a sense of control over parts of my life that often feel out of control.

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Relationships between humans and nature are a part of my work. Humans are a small part of Earth, and yet we share a huge responsibility to manage resources in sustainable ways. We are all connected through living and non-living systems in ways that are unacknowledged and ignored. In addition, physical well-being is inextricably linked to clean air and fresh water, but total health requires natural spaces for recreation and enjoyment. Depicting figures hiking or on some kind of journey conveys my hope about where the future might go, and with it there is a sense of fear for the future of the environment. I hope viewers will be inspired to learn more about native wildlife, and examine their own personal relationship to nature.