ARTIST STATEMENT

Natural patterns inspire my work. Some are biological patterns on the cellular level of organisms. Others are geological pattens of the earth's natural landscapes. My work derives from a fascination with the fractal aspect of life forms as patterns replicate on differing scales. An irregular or fragmented configuration can be repeated over and over again with each part containing the same structure as the whole. Similar patterns that recur progressively in smaller scale describe seemingly random phenomena such as crystal growth or galaxy formation. 

Fractal patterns display the unfolding of life as patterns expand back into each and into themselves. Additionally, fractal structures reveal a frozen moment in time depicting the transition between order and chaos or life and death. Through site-specific installation, painting and sculpture, I explore how dynamic patterns connect landscapes and life forms, physiology and physics, death and detritus, growth and form. 

Starting with the most simple and building to the more complex, my creative process becomes a recreation of the interaction of different levels of life. I begin with one fundamental component and connect it with another and another and another until a whole is created. This action is similar to that of a cell grouping together with other cells to form a more complex organism.

Fractal structures define life's patterns both figuratively and metaphorically. The meandering journey of sperm to egg, a chain of DNA, the lines of the palm of a hand, the more symbolic branches of a family tree or the recursive structures of language and thought, our lives can be interpreted as series of non-linear transformations of organic structures unfolding in space. Ranging from the atomistic to larger organizational systems, the study of patterns reveals the complex interface between the various levels of life and the mysterious connections between them.