2024
Calcium carbonate and hide glue on kozo paper
Prairie / Dune explores often overlooked plants by transforming them into mystical versions of themselves. I aim to honor the white-flowered plants that reside amongst the sand and grasses on San Juan Island by painting them in a glowing twilight on dark blue paper. This work uncovers a microcosm of organisms within a tiny and unique ecosystem. My plant and insect subjects are critical to this environment. Virginia pepperweed is the only native plant the island marble butterfly lays its eggs on, and death camas miner bees are the only pollinators that can withstand the toxin of meadow death camas pollen.
The process of creating this work began with an interest in the dunes on SJI. I began my dune explorations by creating work of dune plants with vibrant colors, but then soon realized that I was ignoring the white-flowered inhabitants. So, I went deep into research and found a plethora of information regarding the complexities of insect interactions with these specific plants. After sketching out a composition for this work, I transferred my line work onto the blue kozo paper. I then painted all of the subjects with a calcium carbonate pigment bound with hide glue for layering and a soft white effect.
Prairie / Dune
2024
Indigo pigment, ochre, gum arabic, gouache, and washi paper
Marigold, weld, and kozo
The series Colored Dunes and Verbena are included in the Prairie / Dune body of work and were shown in the Blue Island exhibition. I was originally inspired to do this project because of the yellow sand verbena and its edible roots and ecological role in the life of the sand verbena moth. So, the yellow sand verbena is at the heart of this project and that’s why I both painted it and created large, cast paper verbena flower sculptures.
The paper used for the large flowers is kozo which I processed from the inner bark of a mulberry tree to pulp and dyed with marigold and weld. The painted flowers use natural pigments and aim to show the diversity of flora that live in both dunes and prairies on San Juan Island.