statement

Redrawn Topographies: Human and Wild Imprints on the Land

With their map-like views, these paintings employ an abstract language for communicating the dissonance between natural patterns and human infrastructure. Living in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem has given me a front-row seat for viewing migrating animals—and an awareness of the challenges to this primordial impulse. Subdivisions, rail lines, highways, fences, power lines, and other manmade interventions—expressed through the rectilinear patterning in the paintings—are increasingly disrupting the ancient routes of wild movement. Not just a Western reality, this is a planetary concern.

The vibrant colors and intricate details of the geometric bands in my work evoke the nuanced complexity of human development and culture over time, from ancient indigenous footpaths to superhighways. In this series, the underlayers begin with silkscreened facsimiles of 19th-century handwritten text (from archives at the Montana Historical Society). These letterforms symbolize language and culture, and bits of black text peek through to the surface of finished paintings. On the uppermost layers, curvilinear drawn lines reference the migratory movement of animals such as elk, pronghorn, bison, or mule deer. Critical to wildlife abundance, this seasonal phenomenon is driven by the search for forage and mates.

In Redrawn Topographies, contrasting systems of mark making intersect randomly, at times conflicting with each other. While creating these works, I envision how human development and natural forces might coexist in harmonious ecosystems. Restoring and maintaining habitat connectivity (for example, via conservation easements, roadway crossings, and fence modifications) provides real hope that the visual patterns on the land might long continue to reveal a thriving, rhythmic flow of wildlife.