Opposing forces influence me as an artist—be they when natural occurrences of when light meets dark, fluidity meets solid ground, an immovable object confronts an unstoppable force; Or, more directly, the opposing forces in the human relationship dynamics that meet their opposite: man and woman converging, humans expanding in our natural world, (wo)man’s never-ending exploration to conquer ever-greater quests meeting with our own inevitable mortality, or (wo)man’s search for deeper experience, presence and meaning in today’s fast-pace, tech-centric world.

I explore these juxtapositions as metaphor and dialog within my work. These juxtapositions become especially related to when we find ourselves, literally and figuratively, in the midst of these opposing forces. Our human condition is a natural and ever-evolving set of opposing forces: we are physical beings having a spiritual experience, called life.

I believe that the best art is a breaking of bonds—an invitation for the freedom to see anew. It is an exchange between the work and the viewer, with the intention that the work moves the viewer to a new sense of seeing the world and being in the world. In a sense, all of my work is an attempt to express what words, often, cannot say. These unstatable notions often create what the Japanese call “wabi-sabi,” meaning to discover the perfect (or grace or divine) within the imperfect.

The invitation within this deeper unfolding, and within my artwork, has more to do with how we witness and define the deeper meanings of events and circumstances of our human experience, versus how they might be perceived from the visual-only, surface-level view. The gifts of imperfection encourage us to show up in the world with a fierce vulnerability and delve into our experiences with a wide horizon of perspective.

My artwork lives between the natural, the unseen, the intuitive and the spiritual worlds. Being trained as both an artist and designer I’m constantly drawing upon the meaningful narratives of story and human emotion. I make art that takes the viewer on a cathartic journey within their own intuitive self and throughout a moving world of “painting something as it’s felt, not as it is,” as Georgia O’Keeffe stated.