Artist's Statement

My life’s work is from an aerial perspective, a view of the earth I choose to transcribe onto silk using dyes in the ancient medium of batik. The art comprises a series of narrative landscapes inspired by the terraqueous reaches of the continent -- where separate realms of earth, sea and, sky converge. Each area is carefully researched by often hiking the terrain, exploring the waterways by boat, and painting watercolor studies on location. Books and charts are studied to identify features of visual interest.


Photographing from the open windows of my grandfather’s ‘46 Ercoupe plane with my father or brother as pilots, we explore the natural wonders unaltered by man. Sometimes I employ a native pilot who shows me his or her familiar landscape such as the canyons of northern New Mexico or the Appalachian mountains. Satellite images and maps are used to plan expansive compositions. During an excursion, as many as five hundred images will be photographed which will then be reduced to the best twenty possible designs. An organization of the land emerges revealed only by altitude.



After the flight, monotypes are printed on paper before the actual batiking begins. Once familiar with the subject, colors are chosen and ideas formulated. Compositional influences of traditional Japanese wood block prints from the Edo period are employed in the format and depiction of the floating world. Impressionist and modern painters are pulled into the image in my mind’s eye. A sensitive interplay of color and form emerges as the past, present, and future are considered.



Color is an emotional rather than realistic response, the design often abstracted. The slowness of the unforgiving medium gives time to reflect on the thoughts and emotions feeding into the artwork. The goal is to evoke a sense of place that differentiates locations. The exquisiteness of a fleeting moment is captured on silk with dyes, attempting to share with the viewer a moment of visual poetry.


A Celebration of the World’s Barrier Islands has been my focus as I travel and photograph. Witnessing their vulnerability and noticeable changes only seen from the aerial viewpoint brings subtle environmental messages through the individual batiks. Sea Level Rise and Deep Sea Habitats also stir my scientific interest as I continue toward depicting Our Solar System and Other Worlds.