“My welding studio is located at a former dairy farm. I have spent many contented winter days working on my metal sculpture here. In the winter season, the barn exists in relative tranquility, on a hill surrounded by glistening snow covered fields. Peace and solitude are definitive.”
Artist Statement
I learned many skills associated with women, as well as non-traditional work that offered a living while growing up in a period that saw the dissolution of small self-sufficient communities in Maine. The traditional role of women became somewhat obsolete, even discarded, in an era electric with change. Pursuing autonomy gave me the opportunity to appreciate life flying by the seat of my pants. I have always believed that there is more to intuition than meets the eye, and fortunately, I was encouraged to develop this gift as a young woman. It always felt right to believe in it, in spite of results that, to the naked eye, seemed somewhat contrary to common sense.
Yet, "illogical judgment will lead to new experience." The right words to express these changes were often not found. What was much more important to me was an uncommon awareness that validated me.
Life decision moments can imprint an everyday action into one's memory forever. Through art, not language, I became a maker of meaning, unmasking and reforming a response better suited to me. Watching an icicle melting in the winter sun, touching a keepsake, falling upstairs, my first drawing class, fox trotting with my mother, walking in the woods, my children, and poetry that weaves dreams. A collection of temporary moments placed on a shelf, ready to be taken down when the creative spirit moves. I have discovered a place, a sense of the here and now, that would allow me to develop and express what had colloquially been called odd.
Artistically, I have focused on material that I understand on a technical level. Steel and stainless steel are heavy, solid materials. My intent has been to dispel these impressions, giving the metal qualities of motion and weightlessness. This study, somewhat subversive to the traditional treatment of this mean material, transforms it into sculpture that gives consideration to an integrated and instinctive process. Similarly, it is much the same for my reliefs and drawings. The excitement that I have felt in developing a creative avenue for intuitive feelings reminds me of dream discovery. The difference is that the symbols that I make in art are tangible expressions of what is important to me at this time and place in my life.
“This place and the experience with my work here, seems to foster an honest response, open to change, which gives me an element of surprise as the work is formed and shaped. Direct metal sculpture is not the easiest medium, yet the impetus needed to push through, results in a process that feels spontaneous and empowering.”
