I create mixed media art because I see beauty in a surface that is undulating with texture, opacity and translucency. Initially I want to engage the viewer by a flicker of light that is reflected from an embedded piece of glass. Then, my purpose is to draw you closer to present the nuances of layering and to start the visual story.
My artistic exploration with mixed media mosaics started 30 years ago when it became essential for me to touch and texturize the surface. I quickly shifted from painting on canvas to wood: gouging, cutting, burning, attaching. It felt as if the energy required to make my work was absorbed into each finished piece.
My current art echoes that early raw experience; however, now the process of learning to listen to materials and their interaction with each other is patient and calm.
When I make my mosaics, there is an anthropological intent. I want to unearth some of my scratches and drawings that lie under layers of glass. By showing only part of the image I hope that the viewer will follow through and discover the precious and pristine crystals nestled beside rusted found objects.
I think that my earliest influences are from travel. My first memories are the annual childhood pilgrimages to Kirkland Lake, Ontario where my grandfather worked in the goldmines. Each year my family drove through the monumental Canadian Shield, sometimes tagged with graffiti and always with its layers of secrets and stories blasted open and exposed. That annual viewing of the stoic rock walls and their sunbaked cradling of my family as we picked blueberries amongst the brush and lichen, were the start of an interest in layers, history and story.
