Landmade

Winter (2017/18)
Landwalks: Bruce Trail, Niagara Escarpment
Ephemeral Graffiti, (charcoal), Litter, Snow, Lichen, Sumac, Fern, Wild raspberry

Andy Goldsworthy wanna be. Bruce Trail, January, 2018

A connecting aspect of my practice is informed by altars and alter-ability in the land. After spending time at residencies in Ireland (2013) and Shetland, (2015, 2016) I have become more and more interested in the human connection with place and how we are all compelled to alter the land in some way, shape or form, even in remote, sparsely populated regions of the world.

I am driven to leave my own land marks in these places and find myself making portals from discarded vineyard wire, arranging red sumac in spirals on blue snow shadows and lining up rows of milkweed pods into migration patterns.

Remnants found on remote shorelines (nets, seaweed, lichened stones, litter) and fallow fields (carcass, nests, wild growth) are intimately altered to mark places in time. They are left as temporary markers for others to encounter (or not) before being reclaimed by the natural world.

I am intrigued by the processes happening in nature over time and it’s unpredictability that affects the work. The uncertainty of working with the weather, the connection between land and light, uprooting and unearthing hidden things and hidden life are the elements that motivate my practice.

Immersed in the cycle of growth and decay, I am compelled to make marks on the land using only materials from my immediate surroundings.