“A Symbiotic Relationship” is a body of work that I am continuously working on that revolves around a complex symbolic relationship between humans and nature. Whether its paintings, mixed media, sculptures, performance, or drawings, these pieces explore abstract and literal connections between humans and nature. The representations of these connections may include the actual pairing of human made and natural objects in a sculptural piece or more metaphorical concepts such as the painting triptych “A Symbiotic Relationship” which invites us to examine the early phases of building a relationship whether its Testing the Waters to see if you and another can jive, trimming an overgrown hedge that we’ve grown around our hearts To Be Vulnerable with another, and being able to healthily maintain our own boundaries in Growing Together.

Having roots in Art Therapy, I include and reflect on a lot of my own life experiences and connection with nature in my work. Expressing myself through means of creation is important to the process of emotions and life. As I navigate life, do more field research, and learn more ecologically, I see so many parts of myself, and my life reflected in the nature which inspires a lot of my work. My intention for my work is to slow down the viewer and bring more awareness to nature as we are living in such a fast paced technologically driven society sometimes these little things are over looked.

Even though each piece may fluctuate in content and expression, there is a consistency in attention to the “little things.” There is a meticulous process to most of the pieces starting with intensive preliminary sketches, research, mind-mapping and physically being present in nature. and focus on small details whether it is the markmaking, inclusions of . Another component that is linked in my work is color.