Over was illegal.

I don’t know exactly what law was broken, nor does it matter just like jaywalking is illegal but it doesn’t feel like it should be. There is something gently transgressive, to me, of defying both the rules against vandalism and the expectation of what comprises defacement in putting up well rendered oil paintings as graffiti.

Considering public space and public signage a gallery rather than the gallery charitably letting in the public, Over was a brief contemplation of what and how signs tell us what to do with our space and bodies and how we, as a public conform to these demands or act against them.

I made the show as easy to remove as possible, covering badly graffiti-ed signs on the Steel Bridge with small oil paintings that had elastic straps. It stayed up an entire day, which was longer than I anticipated, but was ultimately, unceremoniously destroyed.

On Target is a series of four, four foot by four foot square paintings with a central focal point. Essentially, the most awkward and difficult format I could imagine. The attempt is to blend aspects of propaganda, design, painting, and metaphors to image how women might have excelled through various art movements if men had not been the primary focus. Hidden within these paintings are little nods towards historical painters but likewise gesture toward, and hopefully gratify, the populist idea that you can enjoy them just as they are.

An exploration of the expressive vocabulary and it’s slippery yet ubiquitous interpretation that changes from person to person, culture to culture and over time. Can the body be as expressive as the face? How are these inventories created and how exclusive are they to time, place and an previously agreed upon arrangements of understanding?

We always take pictures of where ever we go, so what is it to be a tourist? Vietnam owns the Angkor Wat Temple complex in Cambodia. When staying there, many of the resorts and restaurants are owned by South Korean companies. Money comes out of the ATM’s in riel’s or U.S. dollars. This series of images painted on top of newspapers and tourist maps asks what it is to be a tourist and what are the responsibilities of traveling through another country?

The priority hidden in a sequence of events has always fascinated me: Is the snake going to bite the bomb or is the bomb going to blow up the snake? The suspended animation of events and what is important in that sequence - like solving a riddle - and is always a fertile point of fascination.

Much of my work is a consideration of the senses and how art can defeat it’s pristine, untouchable nature. Persuasion through sensorial appeal is present in most of my work. I am curious if making direct references to touching the work or the work being manipulated would draw in physical interaction from the audience. Gentle Tactics is an attempt to tenderly invite to audience to touch the art.

Contemplations of expectations, both personal and imposed.

For six weeks I worked with NOAA in Seattle Washington as an artist in residence with their Harmful Algae Bloom Laboratory.

I’ve made quite a bit of art around the city of Portland, Oregon. I hope to make a bunch more.

Red Yarn performs folk music for children with a cadre of puppets and set props. I made his last three backdrops.

Musician Mo Phillips dreamed up a ukulele song book and I created these pen and ink illustrations. Designer Scott Baker hand lettered the titles and created the layouts and formatting.