Initial References – 

The idea of monuments and monumental work still infuses my practice.

The word “monument”  can mean:

• “a statue, building, or other structure erected to commemorate a famous or notable person.
• a statue or other structure placed by or over a grave in memory of the dead.
• a building, structure, or site that is of historical importance or interest.
• an outstanding, enduring, and memorable example of something.

Of all of the these definitions, it’s the last one that comes closest to getting at what I am looking for. Especially when it is fused with notions of “sacredness” or “holiness”.

The change, prompted by this Summer session, has come in pursuing earth art and animation to further explore this idea. I find earth art attractive because it encourages a largeness and is intrinsically tied to the land. Land as both a concept and as a subject has become a big part of my work.

I have only recently engaged with animation to explore concepts in my practice.  I like the ability of stop motion to both narrate concepts and to make visually available the labor of creating work.

 

Sculptural References – 

I look at paintings and sculptures that are about memory and monument as well as those that have sacredness and sacred imagery. These have been, in the past, mostly European and Indigenous American but, lately, I have begun to roam further afield in an effort to further de-center my  practice.

 

Animation References – 

William Kentridge

 

Painting References –

There are several artists that I often look at and return to work they’ve done for both inspiration and to see how they handled light and/or color. I am also attracted to their visual concepts.

• William Blake
• Helene Knoop
• Ali Hammad
• Wang Yi Guang
• Zdzislaw Beksinski
• Kathe Kolwitz

 

In addition to the above artists, I often turn to narratives from my Indian heritage and from neighboring tribes. I am currently working through a couple of texts which contain visual and/or oral histories from tribal members and were collected between the mid 1800s and 1950. Specifically, I am tracing painting and drawing traditions that are mostly pre-contact but also include ledger art, which is post-contact.

 

Methodologically, I often employ the use of Chiaroscuro, indirect painting methods, limited palette usage ,(both European and Indigenous American) in my painting as a means of guiding the eye of the viewer to what I want them to first see. Currently, I have limited my painting palette to pigments that were available in the Pacific Northwest Coast, Columbia Plateau or Western Montana. There are some notable exceptions but I am mostly working in ochres, umbers, and other “natural” pigments.