Fifteen years ago I began immersing myself in still life painting. I was nearing the end of my BFA and they were my thesis work. With a need to create from observation, still life was the most accessible. In working cups and bottles and jars and bowls I became acutely aware I was painting vessels and noted that humans...we...are such vessels. Giving and taking. Holding and sharing. Relationships. How we position ourselves in a group or outside of it.
With time, still life almost entirely disappeared from my work but during that time I became an avid observer of human interaction. In June of 2009 bottles returned to my work.
My ongoing meditation has been on relationships. Transparency. Walls. Boundaries or lack thereof. Cliques. Groups. Families. What do we call community? How much of ourselves do we reveal to another or when is it appropriate to hide? How do we relate to our deepest self or to the other we call intimate? How much of our history do we expose? What creates chaos? How do we fit? When are we invisible? What is home?
I paint to try and make sense.
