Hello!
I dream of animals. I experience recurring dreams of specific ones. The two most common recurring dreams are of a bear and a deer or elk, I'm not sure which. In the bear dream, I'm in the forest painting and the bear comes and sits beside me watching my work. I call him a "him" because he has a masculine and protective energy. He needs a bath because he is very aromatic. He looks at me and into my eyes every few minutes. My deer/elk dream has a different energy, a maternalistic and caring energy, she nuzzles my neck, I feel her breath and smell her "deerness". I don't know why, but I feel tied to animals, as the song says "like the buttons on a blouse".
I am a conservation artist living and working in the west. I engage in projects that explore the nexus of ecology and human values and seek to understand the emotion, beliefs and philosophies that prompt us to protect our environment and wildlife and preserve our biodiversity in nature. I advocate for animals and public lands.
My notion of capturing the soul of a subject and connecting it to the viewer lies in my fiercely independent upbringing on my parents' farm. The connection between the stewardship of land and animals and the success of humans was a very real daily lesson. My childhood was full of heritage and experiences with animals. I built forts in the rock piles to hang out with the marmots. I explored Idaho’s fields and hills, rode my horse Little Tinkerbell to steep-walled canyons or rocky buttes, worked on the farm, competed in rodeos, and spent summers in the Sawtooths. I named and tamed every farm cat, and I still feel the gurgle of laughter bubble from my chest as I remember how I played hide-and-go-seek with my dogs in the cornfields. Animals were my companions and the fields, rocks and mountains of Idaho were my playground.
As I grew up, I carried with me the lessons of youth and my concerns for preservation of holistic ecosystems. I attended undergraduate school in Austin, Texas, and graduate school in Arizona, and my love of the west spread beyond Idaho. Today, I direct my art practice in support of heritage and conservation topics, collaborating with land trusts, state and national parks, non-profit organizations, and wildlife rehabilitation efforts. I seek to explore the crossroads of our western plains and sagebrush ecosystems, the balanced use of the land, and the impact on wildlife and species survival.
My art style is inspired by the Fauve tradition, with a western twist. Fauvism seeks to separate color from its descriptive, representational purpose and allow it to exist on the canvas as an independent element without having to be true to the natural world. By using color to project a mood, portray emotion, and to establish a structure within the art piece, I create images that are not replications of nature, but which express nature. I hope to represent the western childhood I grew up in and the western future I wish to preserve. Painting wildlife in their normal daily lives, motherhood, play, silliness, hunting, survival, and other sentient or even anthropomorphized behavior, portrays the role and importance that every animal serves in a balanced ecosystem.
My husband and I are blessed to live in the west. I enjoy spending time on adventures out in our public lands, exploring and learning from wildlife, and hiking in the hills with my 13 year old sweet black lab Augie and adopted 11 year old rescue dog, Babe. In addition to my own art practice, I volunteer for conservation organizations, work as an instructor for art business skills to artists aspiring to build sustainable businesses, and I teach nature journaling and nature printing workshops. I am a proud associate member of Women Artists of the West, American Women Artists, Cowgirl Artists of America, and Artists for Conservation.
