RioSalidaArt

Curiosity and long walks across landscapes have brought me into the paths of scientists, biologists, and birders, who taught me to pay close attention to the interactions of living things. I strive to represent those interactions both as a moment in time and as a story of the wider experience of life on earth.

I am especially interested in strong rhythms and patterns between subject and environment. I find it’s the shapes around an object, rather than the object itself, that are often the most compelling.

Human relationships with wild lands and wild creatures are as individual as we are, whether we see nature as a nourishing mother, a suite of resources to be exploited, or a frightening and dangerous wasteland. When an image I create sparks a memory or reflects an experience familiar to the viewer, it provides common ground for sharing our stories and understanding each other’s perspective. And shared stories can help us not only to celebrate the beauty found in nature, but also to tackle larger issues of wildlife, water, and land conservation.

Linocut is a labor-intensive and repetitive process, with the skills of a draughtsman, painter, and sculptor all coming in to play. Once I have drawn a composition onto a linoleum block, I carve away any areas that I do not want to print. When the carving is complete, ink is rolled onto the surface of the linoleum and transferred to paper. The resulting print is a mirror image of the carved block.

There are several techniques for creating multicolor linocuts. I most often use the reduction method, in which all the colors of an image are printed from a single block in successive layers. After each new color is applied to the print, more material is removed from the linoleum block, reducing the printable surface until the image is finished and the block is destroyed.