About Me
As a young girl in San Diego, venturing out to the larger world around me, tide pools were my first love. They are inhabited by eye-catching colors and creatures that would kiss my fingers as I glided them through the water. They quickly became a source to feed my hungry curiosity about nature and in an effort to remember them I squiggled crayon drawings of them. At the time I didn’t know it, but I was communicating visual love poems of the tide pools to all who saw them. This began my connection to nature and the need to share my findings with others.
Over the course of my life, I have become much more skilled in the arts, testing this power of visual language, exploring the realm of sculpture and installation art. I have observed that art can elicit a visceral reaction in others before their brains have fully contemplated what they are seeing. Understanding this power has driven me to use it to defend my love, the natural world because I have become conscious of the dangers that threaten tide pools and all the ecosystems I admire. I have seen people respond to my work on ecological issues and I believe through their response leads to the solution. To further engage my curiosity of the natural world I have been committing myself to research minute organisms such as insects, fungi, lichens, and mosses for the last four years. Seeing how these organisms function in their ecosystem has made me question my own role in the world.
Through my process, I also question where, in the relationships between nature and the public, can grow stronger. We all have that deep childhood curiosity that has disrupted the normal, go-go-go, of the day to look at a beautiful flower or lichen in my case. This curiosity can be strengthened by being more observant of organisms that are not traditional noticeable or valued by society as a whole, like lichens, fungi, and insects. As an ecological artist I am not only depicting the organisms I appreciate but creating installations and interventions for visitors to learn and experience these organisms and ecosystems. Making people realize what there is to appreciate in the natural world and how delicate these systems are will lead to environmental stewardship and a deeper connection to the earth itself.