Quatrefoil of St. Michael's Hildesheim, detail
Public and Private Works
The abstract oil paintings are created on pieces of lace and crocheted material that have been sewn together to resemble a variety of architectural elements found in or on basilican facades, interiors, or floor plans. The hand-sewn material is then stretched like a canvas over stretcher bars.
My interest in lace as a decorative support has evolved from many sources. Its intricate patterns and shapes resemble the elegant tracery and stonework associated with cathedral design. The use of the open weave support has allowed me to investigate the surfaces of my paintings. The holes in the canvases are filled from both sides with paint. As a result, rings of concentric color document the chromatic history of the work. Paint leaches to the surface of the work resembling light through stained glass.
Lace has been a symbol of wealth and power in Europe for centuries. The handmade lace used in my work, however, was made by anonymous women in the last century and each piece is infused with its own personal history. The material gives the work a distinctly feminine accent. Its union with the perceived masculine activities of painting and building results in surfaces of visual, social, and cultural tension.
By using a decorative "craft" material as a painting support, I am attempting to elevate this form to a higher art. In doing so, I hope my attempts to subvert this feminine structure call into question the role of gender in the "art" of painting.
The water color works are my most current. Also inspired by basilican architecture, the images are created by piercing individual sheets of paper with a pin tool. Once an overall design has been developed, I remove sections of the pattern to create an openwork grid. The sheet is then sized. The remaining single holes are reopened, a painstaking process that takes 5–7 days to complete. Finally, the sheet is saturated with water color paint and allowed to dry slowly. The trapped pigment creates elaborate patterns by settling away from the openings. The process explores two contradictory forces: control and chance. Control is exerted over the design of the water color surface in the production of pinhole levees, dams, bridges and Braille-like patterns, while the final result is left to chance when I relinquish the surface once it has begun to dry. These opposing forces create emotional as well as visual tension.
Another element of chance contributes to the surface tension. The sheets are painted on a Plexiglas surface and, when dry, they stick to that surface. Removing the dry, finished sheet can be quite risky, but without the adhesion patterns cannot be created. The finished sheets can be hung so that each creates an extended surface of reflected shadow pattern on the supporting wall. I have recently begun to layer sheets to similar effect. The "hidden sheet," which implies chance but is still selected, both enhances the viewer's experience by adding another dimension to the work and frustrates that experience by exposing only portions of the "hidden sheet." This contradiction—as in the actual creative act—causes an intense and frustrating environment.
The obsessive nature of the paintings (both oil and water color) is reflective of both the maker and the art. As individuals we reveal ourselves in elaborate layers, but only over time and after intense study. The narrative thread that runs through my work and speaks to my core is one of braided incidents, which reveal themselves to be as complex as their maker.