Snow Drawing on Cottonwood at the Helen Schuler Nature Centre

I went down to the Helen Schuler Nature Centre in Lethbridge Alberta and found this dead cottonwood that would work well for an intervention. It was minus 12 degrees celsius. Snow began falling as I packed snow onto the surface of the tree. The snow was reluctant to stick but with some time I was able to get it to stay. The drawing process was an organic response to the limitations of the snow adhering to the tree and to line, form, context and space. The drawing evolved from simple lines and modular shapes that I refined with a stick to eventually become a connected form.

Snow Drawing in Pavan Park, Lethbridge Alberta

Snow drawing # 5

Snow Drawing on Cottonwood at the Helen Schuler Nature Centre

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 # 2

Figure cut from my friend Kimberly Rondeau who owned the mattress. 2008

Waterton Lakes Cairn