Aristotle wrote that in
all animals there is something marvelous and beautiful
and they deserve to be studied and cherished. It is with
this belief that I make art.
Although
my work preoccupies itself with misunderstood or often
loathed members of the animal kingdom, it is what St.
Thomas Aquinas called “an influx of delight”,
that I hope to convey in that context. From the ashes
of their wretched situations - losing their homes and
their numbers - animals struggle to survive and flourish.
Through close character studies, interwoven with dream
landscapes and surreal environments, I hope to tweak these
animal stories, showing their capacity for resilience,
surprise, disturbance and delight, the very emotions I
hope to evoke in viewers.
My
work is informed and inspired by historical depictions
of the natural world, like that of Ernst Haeckel and Maria
Sibylla Merian, the Fauvists, Catholic iconography, and
personal attachment to my subject matter. I relate to
the individual animals I study.
Art
cannot change the devastating reality that we are draining
the Earth of biodiversity, but it can most certainly change
the way we feel about it. Perhaps it is counterintuitive
to suggest that through delight, we can influence the
fate of our world. But in my life, the delight I’ve
drawn from nature, has pushed me to dedicate myself to
conserving it, a message I hope to convey through my artistic
practice and the work it produces.
Special homage to my mentor, Katharine McKenna, who taught
me not to be afraid of color, and to my late beloved friend
and greatest champion, the artist Mary Fussell.
