Narrative

With all of the beautiful places and incredible creatures, around the world and in our own yards, I wonder: How well do we really know nature? Would we be able to tell between a real insect and one that has been made up?

The insects, in my series titled "In the Landscape", are so life-like that it is hard to tell if they are real species or imagined! Although, determining which is which can be a playful challenge, I am also aware of the link that this artwork has to nature advocacy.

Creating this work has led to more pressing questions… Do unknown or overlooked species suffer from human choices? How many creatures will go extinct without ever being discovered? What does the natural world need from humans? These questions, have become the foundation for this artwork.

To create these pieces, I visit industrial and natural places alike, near home and abroad, looking for the intimate microcosm. I hold nature in one hand and my own cultures industrial choices in another. I delight in pattern and color, as I take photographs that will become invented insects or their background environments. In my art practice, location, my own presence there, and the treasures that are found by taking the time to look, is as important as imagination and the creative process itself.

It is my hope, with this work, to create conversations and deep engagement with the natural world, celebrate the richness of the unknown, and protect nature's incredible diversity.

The Ramonafalls Butterfly was invented in a moment of discovery on a special hike in the Mount Hood National Forest. I had felt pulled to the woods to seek out one of the most spectacular waterfalls in the area! I had heard of its exquisite ledges of basalt and soft spray of cascading water. I was delighted to find that the seven mile loop, which Ramona Falls could be seen from, was also exquisitely beautiful! The path first meandered intimately through the trees along side a sweet brook banked with moss and, just past the falls, the forest opened up to reveal the edge of a ravine with stunning views of a river far below. Among the many treasures I encountered, both tiny and grand, I was most excited by a scattering of leaves that had fallen to the forest floor. These leaves, no more than 2 inches in length, had an intricate network of patterns that I had never seen before. They had intersecting brownish black lines that created tiny boundaries on the leaf. These areas were cream colored and splotched with gray, ocher, and sienna. Amazingly, they were also adorned with tiny raised black hexagons. I later learned that the patterns and colors were caused by the presence of a fungus (Coccomyces dentatus) colony. With my face inches from the ground and camera in hand, this tiny leaf, that most would have passed by, became my entire focus and everything, including time, slipped away. It was in this detailed network of complexity that I witnessed the form of a butterfly emerge in the shapes on the leaf and at that moment the Ramonafalls Butterfly was born.

Common Name: Ramonafalls Butterfly

Scientific Name: Mahonia fungifolium 

Meaning: Evergreen with leaf fungus

If you are interested in purchasing, please visit: Ramona Falls Butterfly