Nuna

The word Nuna is a native name for a woman that means land. I am not certain what tribe or nation this First Nation name comes from, but I thought it suited the work since the First Nations have occupied this land for thousands of years and the work itself is of a woman that is made from the land. The face was sculpted using a garden hoe to carve into the clay embankment located in the coulees along the Oldman River in Lethbridge Alberta.

Suspend

This work was done at Beauvais Lake Provincial Park as part of the Ecotone artist residencies through the Field Notes Collective and the Southern Alberta Art Gallery in May and June of 2012.

Stick Man

This intervention was created with the help of my friend Marie Otis whose body was the template for the form. The work was made along the shore of the Upper Waterton Lake at Waterton Lakes National Park. When we were creating the work some people passed by and commented that we were making a stick man.

Square, Rectangle, Oval, Triangle

This work was done at Beauvais Lake Provincial Park during my residency in May and June, 2012. I smeared mud on the pine trees and then applied cattail leaves to the mud.

Charcoal on Cottonwood # 7

Charcoal collected from fire pits then drawn on dead cottonwood trees. In the top image the center was sanded.

Charcoal on Cottonwoods

Charcoal on Trees # 3 and # 4

Charcoal collected from fire pits and drawn on dead cottonwood trees.

Mattress # 5

Mattresses have a limited life, they are used for a number of years and are then discarded and often left littering alley ways waiting to be taken to the dump. The accumulation of the mattress in our alleys, reflects a culture of consumption and of immediate convenience and comfort over that of ecological sustainability. Our society places emphasis on creating things for instant economic benefit and immediate gratification, with little concern or thought for a long term vision of where these products will end up once they are no longer useful.

I am interested in utilizing the mattress one last time before it is taken to the dump in an attempt to create an intervention about a particular time and place and to create dialogue about our society, the human condition and accumulation. Cutting the figure out of the mattress is a way to elaborate on a human presence. There is a tension between mankind and the pile up of these materials that effects the precarious balance of our planet.