Weave the Bower

Come Forth Again Out of the Water Hand stitched christening...

Fri, 17 May 2013 11:51:36 -0700

Come Forth Again Out of the Water

Hand stitched christening gown, wheat

Come Forth Again Out of the Water began late one night after reading about a 19th century woman who immigrated from Europe with her husband and traveled across America to start a horse ranch in the Wyoming wilderness. When her husband died suddenly, it was assumed she would shut down the ranch and retire to quietly live out the rest of her days as a widow. Not only did she keep the ranch running, she continued to expand it and turned it into a successful and well respected business. Perhaps most impressive of all was, in addition to raising and training horses and running a ranch, she gave birth to 11 children.

I thought a lot about this woman, living in the middle of nowhere, giving birth to 11 children. I was in awe of the strength and fortitude it must have taken in body and soul to birth and raise so many children in an untamed wilderness.

While I was absorbed in the life of this woman, I was also researching Mormonism. At the time there was no connection between the two subjects. I was interested in Mormonism because it was being talked about a lot in the press (this was around the time of the election) and I wanted to know more. In the course of my research, I read a line from the Mormon baptism ceremony, “Come forth again out of the water” and the two ideas—this anonymous woman of the West and the iconic religion of the West—coalesced. I don’t know what religion the woman actually was, but I imagined her giving each one of her fragile children over to god in a baptism ceremony. A god who, despite the devotion of his followers, often failed to protect children from the harsh winters, untamed landscapes, and disease of the West. This idea of faith in the face of unrelenting hardship, a stubborn kind of belief, was strange and compelling to me.

I decided to pay tribute to this woman and her children and all the women and children they represented by creating a ritual of my own, drawing from the baptism ceremony. I made the christening gown, stitching it by hand. The repetitive, meditative motion of the needle and thread became a ritual in itself. When I finished making the dress, I hung it on the wall and found myself placing things around it, wheat, apples, charcoal from a fire, almost like little offerings. Then I took the gown to the water. I went alone to perform the “baptism,” I didn’t have any specific denomination or ritual in mind. No religious words were spoken, but creating this intervention in the wilderness, seeing the gown floating in the water created a strange kind of reverence and a connection to my natural surroundings.

Come Forth Again Out of the Water

Fri, 17 May 2013 11:51:32 -0700

Come Forth Again Out of the Water

Offering #2 apples, ice

Fri, 15 Mar 2013 12:35:00 -0700

Offering #2

apples, ice

Offering #1 hand braided rope made from dried grass, dried...

Tue, 12 Mar 2013 11:42:57 -0700

Offering #1

hand braided rope made from dried grass, dried flowers, jaw bone, snow

I made most of the Offerings while walking alone. Two friends found me while I made this one. That’s why there are too many footprints in the snow around it. I didn’t really want an audience. The point of the Offerings (if there was a point) was that I made them alone.

Offering #3 A quick little video to show the movement of...

Thu, 07 Mar 2013 17:11:00 -0800

Offering #3

A quick little video to show the movement of Offering #3.

Offering #3 jaw bone, apples, string, dried flowers, hand...

Tue, 05 Mar 2013 10:00:00 -0800

Offering #3

jaw bone, apples, string, dried flowers, hand braided rope made from dried grass

It was cold and dark the day I found this tree. One branch grew out from the trunk horizontally. It was perfect for hanging an offering. The wind started to blow and the strings twisted around each other. My fingers went numb as I wound strings around the branch and stabbed threaded needles through apples.

Offering #5 hand braided rope made from dried grass, apples,...

Mon, 04 Mar 2013 09:40:42 -0800

Offering #5

hand braided rope made from dried grass, apples, beaver chewed tree trunk

Offering #5 is part of a series of interventions in the wilderness focused on process and meditation. Each intervention is as much about the walk and discovery of the site of installation as it is about the final product. Offering #5 was installed on the trunk of a tree that bore the evidence of a previous intervention by a beaver who gnawed through the bark of the tree. Wrapped around the chewed trunk is a rope made by braiding together dried grass gathered near the site of the intervention. The materials used were gleaned from nature, altered, and then offered back to nature in this altered state.

Replacement Homes for Changelings

Sat, 02 Mar 2013 16:16:00 -0800

Replacement Homes for Changelings

Spagetti Jar House from Replacement Homes for Changelings One of...

Sun, 24 Feb 2013 14:24:00 -0800

Spagetti Jar House from Replacement Homes for Changelings

One of the Replacement Homes in situ (on my bookshelf). I thought the lighting was cool, so I thought I’d share.

Replacement Homes for Changlings jars/tins, paper, moss, stones,...

Wed, 20 Feb 2013 19:50:00 -0800

Tea Tin House

Jam Jar House #2

Jam Jar House #1

Spaghetti Jar House

Replacement Homes for Changlings

jars/tins, paper, moss, stones, twigs

Changelings are creatures that are abandoned by their own people and forced to live with false families who resent their very presence. Changelings have been known to scream and cry at the indignity of it all, until even the false family abandons them.

Replacement Homes for Changelings are for you if you feel out of place in your own life, if you’ve ever been displaced against your wishes, if you feel like you were born into the wrong family, if your community’s beliefs are against your own, or if you are the victim of coinciding wanderlust and homesickness. They are little jars of domesticity to take with you where ever you go. A home for those who never feel at home.

I Ain’t Got No Home series of graphite drawings on...

Thu, 13 Dec 2012 10:00:32 -0800

Keep Quiet

Talk Religion Get Food

At the Crossroads Go This Way

Rich People

Cowards-Will Give to Get Rid of You

I Ain’t Got No Home

series of graphite drawings on paper

“Now I look around, it’s might plain to see/ this world is such a great and funny place to be/ Oh the gambling man is rich and the working man is poor/ and I ain’t got no home anymore” — Woody Guthrie

Like millions of others in the country, my mom lost her house when the real estate bubble burst. At the same time I graduated from college into the worst job market in 50 years. All of the sudden home was a concept, not of comfort and stability, but of worry and regret. I dreaded the first of the month because I never knew if I would be able to pay rent. The concept of home loomed over me like a dark cloud, but domestic happiness was still something I dreamed about.

For a while I shared a house with 5 other people because it was the only thing I could afford. It was the most miserable living situation I’ve ever been in. For the first time in my life I started reading home magazines and following interior design blogs. I would walk around my neighborhood at night, trying to peer in the lit up windows from the sidewalk, trying to catch a voyeuristic glimpse of the domestic happiness I didn’t have. I became preoccupied with all these beautiful houses I could only see from the outside. It was a confusing mix of longing and anxiety that combined to make home both an unattainable and comforting fear.

Each of the drawings in “I Ain’t Got No Home” is individually titled with a symbol from the set of markings hobos would use to communicate. Hobos would visit houses hoping for work or food, but even if the people inside were kind, they were never truly home. Now the idea of hobos is a quaint joke. Nostalgia and the passing of time has rendered the idea traveling homeless men cute and funny, but in the current economic situation most of us live dangerously close to that lifestyle.

Cowl graphite and pastel from my sketchbook

Sat, 08 Dec 2012 10:00:26 -0800

Cowl

graphite and pastel

from my sketchbook

Untitled graphite and collage from my sketchbook

Fri, 07 Dec 2012 10:00:37 -0800

Untitled

graphite and collage

from my sketchbook

I’m still working on documenting the work I did during my residency, but I wanted to pop in...

Sun, 02 Dec 2012 16:19:25 -0800

I’m still working on documenting the work I did during my residency, but I wanted to pop in and say hi to all the new followers and to say that I also do photography sometimes and you can see some of my work here if you want.

I’m currently in my last week of a residency in Wyoming. I will have lots of new work to share...

Mon, 12 Nov 2012 11:25:30 -0800

I’m currently in my last week of a residency in Wyoming. I will have lots of new work to share very soon!

Untitled (forest) graphite from my sketchbook For some reason...

Sun, 24 Jun 2012 15:40:29 -0700

Untitled (forest)

graphite

from my sketchbook

For some reason houses (not just buildings, but specifically homes) are really interesting to me lately. I’ve been drawing them a lot and clogging my computer’s desktop with photos of all kinds of houses. Suddenly, Edward Hopper, who’s work never really held any interest for me before, seems like genius.

I think I might just do that!

Sun, 24 Jun 2012 15:40:21 -0700

I think I might just do that!

I have an urge to paint, but I’ve never really been a painter. What to do?

Sat, 23 Jun 2012 12:42:04 -0700

I have an urge to paint, but I’ve never really been a painter. What to do?

Works in progress. I haven’t posted any new work on here...

Tue, 12 Jun 2012 12:11:26 -0700

Works in progress.

I haven’t posted any new work on here in a while because, well, there hasn’t been any completed new work to show. Not that I’m not working on things, I am, but I’m working on a whole bunch of things at once so it’s slow progress on all of them. In the mean time I got on the roster for Seattle Storefronts, so I’ll be doing another storefront installation sometime this year. Also, I was accepted to a residency program in Wyoming, so this fall I get to spend a month on a ranch doing nothing but art! Stuff is happening there’s just not a lot to show for it yet.

Unititled graphite

Sun, 04 Mar 2012 10:00:00 -0800

Unititled

graphite