Artist Statement
Walking in the forest, we meander toward home, to a sense of well-being in belonging, in creating.
Ancient knowing remembers belonging to the elements, observing cinnamon maple leaves, stunned by the thunderous white noise of a waterfall.
As an interdisciplinary artist, educator, community catalyst and environmentalist, I have explored intersections of video art, photography and digital storytelling for over 20 years. The term ‘ecoartivist’ sums up the woven elements of current creative practices.
What began sightings of red-tail hawks, a barred owl, mockingbird and a riot of fireflies on daily parks walks while collecting plastic trash in Upper Manhattan, has morphed into a definitive urge for deeper integration with nature.
After assiduously documenting urban street art of climate justice and protest movements (2016-2021), I relocated to the Catskills in 2021.
Awe walks in the everyday, in all kinds of weather, provide learning portals to wild worlds. Discovery zones in trout lilies and trilliums, the spring songs of purple finches, the wintergreen flavor of black birch twigs and ephemeral orange fungi emerging after a torrential rainstorm.
Foraging and collecting images as a digital artist has evolved into exploring tactile practices. Hand-sewn birch books, craft twig sculptures, and plant pigment watercolors emerge from my woodland studio along with closeup photos of lichens, oak roots dressed in moss and multilayered video dreamscapes.