One of my Favorite Shows of 2024

Madayin: Eight Decades of Aboriginal Australian Bark Painting From Yirrkala at the Asia Society in NY, NY

These paintings are made by the Yolngu people on eucalyptus bark from stone ground ochre pigments using human hair brushes.

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Mundukuḻ Marawili, “Ancestral Snake and Fish Trap Story,” 1942, Natural pigments on eucalyptus bark
“This shows a male figure with sacred designs painted on his chest.”

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kirrwana Munungurr, “Gurtha” (Ancestral Fire), 2018, Natural pigments on eucalyptus bark
The diamonds are the tongues of the fire, and the white dots are the sparks that we see at night, when the fire is burning down.”

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Gunybi Ganambarr, “Garrapara,” 2018, Natural pigments on eucalyptus bark
“A place where the deep saltwater meets the land, lined with shade trees.”

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Dhuwarrwarr Marina, “Tilapia,” 2017, Natural pigments on eucalyptus bark
“He’s a man out in the ocean. He was singing and then turned into a rock.”

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Wildpainting in Norway

This summer, my sister Kathy and I visited Norway. Our mother, who grew up there, emigrated to the U.S. in 1945 after the Nazi occupation. Our family spoke Norwegian and we grew up assuming everyone loved brown cheese and marinated herring.

We traveled three hours north of Oslo to the Hardangervidda National Park for a weeklong Wildpainting course with Jan van Broeckel. Wildpainting is an immersive art course that explores the limits of painting, inspired by the surrounding landscape.

Amid alpine lakes and forests, we painted the landscape, hiked, and swam. It was a memorable experience that deepened our connection to both people and place.

We painted Lake Lognvikvatn from Austbø, beginning with only orange, burnt sienna, and deep violet. Later, we added the natural colors of the woods and lakes, letting the underlying bright hues show through.

Sitting beside a river with our eyes closed. we captured the sounds of the air and sky in white with our left hand and the murmuring of the river in black with our right hand. Then we drew the same scene with our eyes open, aiming to reflect the awareness gained from the first drawing. Finally, we created a painting based on both drawings, incorporating color fields and small details to move towards abstraction.

Rock Printing

During a recent trip to Hawaii, where natural wonders abound, I was inspired by the Ahihi Cove lava formations to explore rock printing. I came across this technique in an article by Elena Court in the Nature Printing Society newsletter, who generously shared tips and gifted me two sheets of Okawara paper.

To begin, I moistened the rocks with seawater and placed the paper on top, securing it with additional water. After allowing the paper to dry in the hot sun, I applied graphite to create an imprint of the lava rock. Upon returning to the studio, I coated the paper with wheat paste and manually manipulated it into a shape reminiscent of its origin. This process allowed me to transform the paper into a wall-hung object that reflects the landscape that inspired it.

Studio News

I’m honored my work is included in two midwest exhibitions
and is on consignment at the Minnesota Center for Book Arts

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Huia and Huia (digital version) are included in Bound and Unbound VII

August 21, 2023 - January 3, 2024

University Libraries
University of South Dakota
414 East Clark Street
Vermillion, SD

Brian Dettmer, Juror

Image: Huia, 2006, altered book, 9.25 x 6.25 x .75 inches

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Paradise Drive is included in
The Visual Voice

Through April 8, 2023

Bernard A. Zuckerman Museum of Art
Fine Arts Gallery
Kennesaw State University
Keenesaw, GA

Juried by Leslie Dill

And is on consignment at
The Minnesota Center for Book Arts,
Minneapolis, MN

Image: Paradise Drive, 2019,
watercolor, ink, Saunders Waterford paper, book board, book cloth, thread

"Truth: Artist Books and Broadsides" at Gallery Route One

Paradise Drive, a handmade book combining my paintings
and Rebecca Foust’s poems is exhibited in

Truth: Artist Books and Broadsides

at Gallery Route One from January 7th to February 12, 2023

Juried by Sas Colby, the exhibition artists were invited to express their ideas about truth
in the form of handmade, handbound artist books, altered books, and broadsides.

Gallery Route One is located at 11101 Highway One, Point Reyes
and is open from Thursday through Monday, 11 AM to 5 PM

The juror asked each artist to comment on how their work addresses the concept “Truth.” I responded:

A truth can be long standing or it can be a work in progress where new data challenges the status quo and prompts revised realities. Artists present unique views of the world and these reflections can illuminate and inspire. Paradise Drive chronicles a quest for purpose in life, including missteps and recovery. The story may be familiar but the poems and paintings are new interpretations that are intended to prompt new truths.

Thanks, Nicholas Mazzoni, for your insightful article on Books Against the Wall

To read Nick’s article in the San Mateo Daily Journal, please click here:

Please join me at the Peninsula Museum of Art this Saturday, December 10, from 12 to 5.

The Peninsula Museum of Art is located in Space 204 on the upper level of the Tanforan Shopping Center, above the food court and just around the corner from the movie theater box office. Bart accessible. Best parking is on the 3rd level of the North / Cinema parking structure.

COVID: New to the Award Plaque Series

The award plaque series presents concepts worthy of consideration using the structure of the shield-shaped, wall mounted trophy. A recent addition, COVID, acknowledges the disruption and devastation of the pandemic.

COVID, 2022, Cast paper, ceramic, shim, spray paint, 16 x 10 x 2 inches

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Additional works in the Award Plaque series

Two New Publications

I highly recommend two recent books focused on our relationship with the natural world:
becoming—Feral, words and images exploring beasts and EcoArt in Action, a compilation of solutions to environmental challenges. I'm honored my work is included in both publications.

becoming—Feral, a collection of entries from over 80 international contributors, curates a prismatic and multifaceted perspective on our understandings of animals and their ‘wildness.

My contribution, two images of Clay Pigeon Passenger Pigeons, pays homage to the passenger pigeon and its demise largely due to overhunting. The work was created from salvaged clay pigeon shards.

To learn more about becoming becoming—Feral, please click here.

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Ecoart in Action: Activities, Case Studies, and Provocations for Classrooms and Communities

Compiled from a group of more than 200 internationally established practitioners, Ecoart in Action offers a field guide with practical solutions to critical environmental challenges. Organized into three sections―Activities, Case Studies, and Provocations―each contribution provides models for ecoart practice that are adaptable for use within a variety of classrooms, communities, and contexts.

In "Drawing From Nature," I suggest students stand in the middle of what they want to paint or draw and become aware of the complexity of place.

To learn more about Ecoart in Action, please click here.

Studio News Fall 2021

I'm honored to be included in three exhibitions from Extraction: Art on the Edge of the Abyss, an international art project seeking to provoke change by exposing the negative consequences of exhausting natural resources. My work pays homage to the passenger pigeon, once the most abundant bird in the world. Considered cheap meat, the birds were zealously hunted throughout North America. Martha, the last passenger pigeon, died in the Cincinnati zoo in 1914.

The Scrapbook of Extinct and Endangered Birds
2015 - present
Mixed media on salvaged scrapbook
14 x 23 x 1.5 inches

Exhibited in
Reclamation: Artists' Books on the Environment
at the San Francisco Public Library,
Main Branch, Jewett Gallery (lower level),
100 Larkin Street, San Francisco
until Sunday, September 5, 2021
Monday – Sunday 10:00am – 5:30 pm.

Birdshot
2021
Sumi tinted target paper, carved wood
21 x 18 inches

Exhibited in
Art On the Edge:
From Extraction to Restoration and Regeneration
September 18 to 24th
Gallery Route One
Point Reyes, CA

Study for Birdshot
2021
Sumi tinted target paper, salvaged wood
7 x 6 x .5 inches

Exhibited in RePurposeful,
The Art of Collage and Assemblage
SCRAP Fundraiser and Exhibition in Partnership with the Randall Museum

Opening Night Celebration and Silent Auction
Friday October 1, 2021 at the Randall Museum

Clay Pigeon Passenger Pigeons
2016
Salvaged clay pigeons, adhesive
6 elements, approximately 3 x 6 inches each

Exhibited in Art on the Edge: From Extraction to Restoration and Regeneration 2

At the Peninsula Museum of Art
San Bruno, CA
October 2 through January 9

Thanks to the San Francisco Center for the Book and WEAD for organizing these shows.

It Takes a Village

This week I reinstalled Suspended Animation at the di Rosa Center for Contemporary Art in Napa. The work has been an ongoing project since 1995 when it was created for Weather Works, a show juried by Phil Linhares at 600 Townsend Street in San Francisco.

The original piece was made from sail cloth scraps provided by Buena Vista Kite Company owner Peter Werba. Since then, Peter and I have redesigned and reworked the kite sails to accommodate challenges of site and climate. We moved to a sturdier fabric and separated the cells to allow more freedom of movement. This year we added a mesh vent to slow the piece’s rapid rotation in gusty Napa winds.

Artist Dan Grayber’s has applied his considerable fabrication skills to Suspended Animation’s rigging, once again maintaining his custom design and helping me install in the sculpture meadow.

I bring damaged wire cable to Hugh Yoder at Carpenter Rigging to ask for solutions. His most recent response was, “too much torque - you need a swivel,” which explains the new addition to the right top tier, where, due to the topography of the site, the winds are strongest.

These efforts were necessitated by damage to Suspended Animation in recent years. Had the weather changed during this time? I asked meteorologist Ron Baskett who kindly provided me with a formal analysis and this statement: “At Napa County Airport, for the last 5 years high wind periods have increased over the last 30-year average. In 2019 there was 25% more and in 2020 50% more hours of winds greater than 25 mph than the 1990-2020 average of 31 hours per year.”

I don’t know if our latest efforts will prove successful against the mighty Napa winds, but do know I’m grateful for the group that helps me grapple with the problem.

Winter Winds in Traces at the Village Theater Art Gallery in Danville

“Winter Winds” is included in Traces at the Village Theater Art Gallery in Danville. Thanks to Marija Bleier, Visual Arts Coordinator, for mounting a compelling exhibition of work by Women Eco Artists Dialog members. Due to COVID 19 restrictions, the show couldn’t open to the public, but click here to see the virtual tour before the exhibit closes this Friday.

“Clay Pigeon Passenger Pigeons” in Bird Nest, Nature at the Bedford Gallery

Once the most abundant bird in the world, the last passenger pigeon died in 1914. To tell this story of overhunting, I collected clay pigeon shards from the Santa Clara Field Sports Park Shooting Range and configured them into bird-like forms.

“Clay Pigeon Passenger Pigeons” is included in Bird Nest, Nature at the Bedford Gallery in Walnut Creek. The exhibition is open from October 13 to December 20, in person with safety precautions and also virtually. I’m pleased to share the work received a Juror’s Award.

Bed of Roses

I completed this piece earlier this year when I took for granted access to the amazing bay area art community. Thanks to Matt Goldberg and his Mud Months program at SomArts, Katherine Vetne for sharing her silvering expertise and Dan Grayber for helping me figure out how to successfully hang it on the wall. 

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The Broomstick Story in "retro/intro(spection)" at San Francisco Center for the Book

The Broomstick Story is a tale of transformation from one thing to another with documentation of the process. A salvaged wooden broom stick is cut, dowelled and sanded into an object resembling a rolling pin. The process of forming the roller is chronicled by intermittently inking the object and rolling it on newsprint sheets. Early prints have gaps and divots, later prints are smoother and more uniform. The prints are bound into a book showing how the object was made and how it was used. In 2019, the original book was updated with archival materials.

February 7 - April 19, 2020, 10AM to 5:30PM every day/Sadly now closed due to the COVID 19 virus
San Francisco Center for the Book
375 Rhode Island Street
San Francisco, CA

The Carolina Parakeet

Extinct since 1918, the Carolina parakeet is the only parrot native to the eastern United States. The birds once numbered in the hundreds of thousands and travelled in colorful, raucous flocks of 200 to 300. Though mistreated by humans (hunted for their feathers, considered pests by farmers), current research indicates the Carolina parakeet contracted a fatal poultry disease from domestic chickens. 

This drawing is inspired by John James Audubon’s remark, “I’ve seen branches of trees as completely covered by them as they could possibly be” and based on the Carolina Parakeet specimen at the Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History on Pacific Grove, CA.

From Extinct and Endangered Birds, a scrapbook, 2002-present.