Lean In

Images:
1. Fireflower (detail). Oil on canvas, seeds, thread, silk. 2006. 14 x 14 inches. Private collection.
2. Lean In (detail). Oil on canvas, pen and ink, thread, silk, seeds. 2005. 12 x 24 inches (dyptich). Contact artist.
3. It will be, then it will not be (detail). Oil on panel. 10 x 18 inches (dyptich; 2 panels, 10 x 9 inches each). 2007. Contact artist.

I collaborate with young children to make videos documenting their spontaneous imaginative play. These narrative video poems serve to archive “lost moments” of childhood and raise questions about the interconnectedness of all people, children’s thought-processes and relationship to the natural world, and the potential of children and adults to make art together. I make mysterious-looking objects that I hide in the landscape to inform the children’s play. I never use a script, so my work depends completely on children’s spontaneous interaction with the premise I give them. By extension, the videos are “happenings” in which the children and myself play the role of artist-spectator. I use the children’s voiceover commentary to maintain continuous, yet spare, poetic narration filled with unusual turns of phrase characteristic of the young child’s mind. "Mysteries in the Woods" (work-in-progress) documents groups of children around the world discovering and playing with mysterious objects in diverse natural landscapes. It currently includes scenes from NY, GA, CT, and Switzerland. The separate groups of children will not see each other until the video is complete, at which time the scenes will come together as parts of an interconnected whole, complete with common props and similar costumes.

Images (continued)
4. Bean Wound (Hangs vertically). Wool, painted muslin, photograph, thread, electric light, wire. 10 x 29 x 6." 2000.
5. Ana (Red light too soon) (Hangs Vertically). Painted muslin, thread, electric light, wire. 14 x 7 x 3". 2005.
6. Ark Dolls. For "Ark," short film (15 min). 2004.

It will be and then it will not be

I make light sculptures with fabric (wool, cotton, painted or not, and sewn like a quilt, together around a shape), wire, photographs, cat scans, and electric light. These forms glow from within, referencing the light in the darkness. They play with forms, juxtaposing human/bodily shapes with organic/plant forms.