Numbering
For this body of work, I turned my attention from black holes and the cosmic origin stories that dominated my work to the earthy locus of soil and plants. The deep companionship of the plant world to human life is undeniable, central to our survival, but we often take it for granted. In these drawings and paintings, I celebrate plants as teachers and mysterious life partners, hearkening to art historical forms like the still life and the nocturne as structures to explore the cycles of germination, bloom, and decay.
Meeting Place
Medicine came first from the properties of plants being discovered as antidotes to our ills. Many of us seek the wisdom that is right under our feet, even as our ills may mount in size and complexity. I thought of these desires for healing and hope many times as I worked on these pieces. The title of the exhibition, The Garden at Night, refers in some ways to the limits of our understanding. When it’s dark, we must rely on other senses and approaches to make sense of a world that abounds in mystery. At night, shapes are made from smells and sounds. Other creatures are at work. Seeds germinate in the dark. The title also refers to the cycles of life and death that are part of any gardener’s experience and play directly into the still-life tradition of vanitas—a meditation on the brevity and preciousness of life shown by an array of flowers or fruits at all stages of development and decomposition, attended by pollinating butterflies and hungry beetles.
Perfumed Stars (after Shara Nova)
When Aroma is Set Loose from its Form
Some of the more abstract moments in the exhibition—the knots and the crocheted fields—come out of a practice of drawing that parallels the building of cells on cells but also the processes of knitting, weaving, and piecing that have been part of the human use of plant and animal fibers and dyes to cover our own bodies with color and protection. Just as digging one’s hands in the dirt can bring a sense of grounding, so too can the tactile and slow act of drawing. The internal tending that takes place with these meditative drawings is not unlike the tending of a plot of ground, to clear weeds, to water, to fertilize, to make space for new growth.
Late Bloomer
River in White
Sunspots
River in Blue and Lavender
Winter Bouquet
Bouquet for Today