ARTIST STATEMENT:

On my walk home from school, throughout my childhood, I would gravitate towards the measured sounds of the ever-flowing Kokosing River. My mind cleared as I absorbed the sound of the moving water and the feeling of the soft grass beneath me. I can only achieve this meditative state in two ways: immersing myself in nature, and painting.

In my senior project I have attempted to express a new mantra by creating organic forms through meticulous and detailed artistic practices. I germinate my pieces by slowly patterning, or developing specific textures. My repetitive behaviors, such as carefully applying thousands of thin layers of cooling beeswax to a surface, emulate natural growth processes like the slow expansion of a tree trunk or the organized construction of a honeycomb.

To further integrate natural systems into my practice, I spent a summer collecting minerals and plant material to use as pigments for my paintings. I found that suspending and layering these pigments in beeswax allowed me to create a biological habit of my own. My interest in natural pigments led me to work with textiles, creating dyes from materials like mushrooms, tree barks, and berries. Foraging for these materials is now an integral part of my creative process.

Thank you to the Casstevens Family Fund for their generous support.