Forgotten was created from a photo I took of an old chapel in Paris, France. I can't recall the name of it, but I believe it was in the Latin Quarter, near a park where we sat and ate pastries. I was drawn to the run-down, isolated feel of it as I walked by. I put an overlay of trees from a photo I had taken at the Genessee Monastery in New York in order to play up the sense of abandonment and intrigue.
Resilience was created from a shot I took at the beach in Holland, MI on an amazingly windy day in November. It was very windy, sand was blowing all around and the waves were crashing in hard. I felt a sense of awe at the display of power. I love the image of the lone tree in midst of it all, buffeted, but standing firm. I incorporated wire to extend and emphasize how the branches were whipping around in the wind. Some of the wire branches flow onto the matt around the image.
Upward Mobility is constructed of two images taken in France. The background is a shot taken out of the window of our hotel room looking upward and the front layer is a photo I took inside the Grand Trianon at Versailles. I like the play of contrasts, a lavish interior juxtaposed onto a humble exterior, looking up and peering forward simultaneously.
The Source was created as a starting point for a maquette for a commission. (Though in the end, they wanted something more abstract, see Circuitous posting). I was playing around with the idea of metaphors for strength and what might be of encouragement to those who find themselves in a place where they need to be braced and encouraged in a trying time (as this was going to be for an ICU waiting room).
Midnight Breeze is a new work experimenting with painting on sheer fabric. I layered the sheer over a piece of fabric that I had painted by actually blowing paint through a device to administer a fine mist of black paint over branches that I had laid on the fabric. I attempted to echo this motif with my painting on the sheer.
Dimensionality is created from three different layers of sheers overlapped. I used a photograph that I had taken of a mosque in Egypt, near the Citadel. I cut out the main design into a linoleum block and printed it, then carved out more details and printed it again in a different color on a different layer, and finally carved out even more detail and then printed one more layer in a different color. I aligned the sheer layers and framed them so that it can be viewed from both the front and the back.
Complexity is created from a photo I took of a tree after an ice storm in Canton, OH. I manipulated it to abstract it in order to best highlight the intricacies of its silhouette and then adhered it to lucite panels wired together.
Prospect is constructed with a hand-colored black and white photo I had took at Stadium Park in Canton, OH. This photo is overlayed with a sheer image of a pathway and trees, taken at Genessee Monastery in New York. I combined the two images to capture the gap between reality and desire we sometimes experience, in a grass-is-always-greener kind of way.
Lost was created with the intent of illustrating the sense of feeling lost along the journey of life. It is a self portrait of sorts at this stage of my life. It is meant to show the reflection & reevaluation that happens along the way by uniting a subtle image of a pathway, taken on a hike at the Genessee Monastery, along with a photo I took of a compass on a boat in Maine.
Foreshadowing was created by fusing an image from a hallway in the Grand Trianon in Versailles with a shot I took of a humble lantern on a hotel in Charlottesville, VA. I wanted to emphasize the light coming through the window and the shadow of the lantern to suggest the idea of foreshadowing of time, ambitions, and the future.
The Unknown was created for a group show entitled fabric-ations at Malone University's McFadden Gallery. It is created with two identical images I had photographed while on a walk at the Genessee Monastery in New York. The back layer is opaque and stitched with silver threads dangling down eerily, the front layer is a sheer image that is raised to add depth and allow movement. It is intended to create a sense of intrigue about what is to come and how we may "fabricate" our notions of the future.
Looming was created from a photograph I had taken in Bahrain, looking west over the gulf toward a beautiful sunset over Saudi Arabia. Despite the political turmoil in the region at the time, there was such a sense of peace in that view, in that moment, out on a dock with my son.
Navigation was created with a sheer overlay of an image of a compass, taken on a boat in Maine. The back layer is an archway at The Citadel, in Egypt. I sought to visually portray the reality of the unknown that lies ahead on the journey.
The Wait was constructed from an overlay of photo I took of a gargoyle on the top tower of Notre-Dame, in Paris. I was very drawn to the bored posture of the sculpture, as if tired of waiting and perhaps not even sure for what it is waiting. I used an image of a cloudy sky taken in Pittsburgh for the back layer to provide an imminent context for the gargoyle.
Options was created from a photograph I took near Marie Antoinette's Hamlet in Versailles, France. I happened upon the secluded bridge while taking a quiet walk with my husband. I found it so beautiful and inviting, its aged-looking structure (probably reconstructed?) just seemed to evoke a sense of history. I overlayed a sheer image of trees and a path, from the Genessee Monastery in New York, to help reinforce the intrigue. 
Simultaneous was created from a phototransfer of an image taken of an abandoned looking bridge at the Gethsemane Monastery in Kentucky. The timelessness of the alpha and omega symbolism on the bridge was an intriguing contrast to it's aging, deteriorating, overgrown setting. Threads are stitched along the branches within the image and flow onto the mattboard surrounding it within the frame. It has a companion piece, Eternal, which features a Chi- Rho carved into the other side of the bridge.
Eternal was created from an image that I took of a crumbling old bridge while on a hike at the Gethsemane Monastery in Kentucky. I was particularly drawn to the overgrown setting in which it sat, seemingly forgotten. There is a companion piece, Simultaneous, that features the other side of the bridge. A sheer overlay of trees from the Genessee Monastery was integrated to give the dimension of time and space. A Chi- Rho symbol or Christogram is incised into the stone of the bridge. This symbol was used long ago and incorporated the first two Greek letters of Christ's name.
Continuum was created as an attempt to visually explore time, progression, and digression. This work has one opaque layer and two sheer layers of a balloon at different stages or sizes. Depending on your perspective, the balloon is either inflating or deflating. To me it is a continuum containing both perspectives.
Gravitation is a fusion of a sheer overlay of trees and a pathway with a photo taken in a park in London. I can't recall which park it was, perhaps Regents or Hyde? All of the parks we strolled through were so beautiful. The two images combine to create an intriguing lure toward a port of call along the journey.
Indecision was created with a photograph I took in Versailles, France combined with a sheer overlay of a weathervane taken at a friend's house in Ohio. The two images seemed to work so well together to visually portray potential possibilities.
Anticipation is intended to evoke a sense of suspense and excitement as one journeys onward expectantly. The front overlay is of a cloudy sky in Pittsburgh, PA. The back layer is of a colonnade at the Rotunda on the grounds of the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. 
Elusive is another attempt to visualize the vantage point of looking forward trying to see what lies ahead. The archway image was taken in an outdoor corridor at the Louvre in Paris and the tree image was taken at the Genessee Monastery in New York.
Sanctuary is made up of a sheer inverted image taken in a park in Paris. This image overlays text that suggests a space to linger and rest.
Resolve is a mixed media piece created with an inverted image of steps making their way up the dune from the beach at Lake Michigan, in Holland, Michigan. The text unites with the image to explore the concept of what makes us press on toward an elusive destination.
Parallel was an experiment using two versions of the same image taken at the Genessee Monastery in New York. To me, it explores the mystery and perception of reality, that which is seen and unseen, known and unknown. 
Embarkment was another effort to communicate the complexity of growth and progress in life. The pathway image was taken at Quail Hollow State Park in Ohio. Text repeating "one step forward two steps back two steps forward one step back" overlays the pathway. 
Beckoning is meant to play with the concept of destination and calling, of how one can feel pulled in a certain direction without necessarily being able to see where it leads. It was created with an image taken at the Rotunda on the grounds of the University of Virginia, in Charlottesville. This was combined with a sheer overlay of a photo of my son's bedroom door slightly ajar.
Urgency is made up of 2 images. The back layer is an image of a weathered old door in a crumbling wall on the grounds of the Gethsemane Monastery in Kentucky. The sheer overlay is of an expired parking meter on 3rd street in downtown Canton, Ohio. I wanted to create a sort of mysterious intrigue that the viewer could personally resonate with as to what may be the urgency to pass through the portal and where might it lead.
Luring was created as a way of considering the powerful influence of material comforts and longings. The hallway image with the chandelier was taken at Versailles in France. The overlay of trees, suggesting life's journey, is from the Genessee Monastery in New York. 
Monumental incorporates an image of a pathway, which serves as a metaphor for life's journey, along with an image of a sundial. The sundial was purposefully enlarged in comparison with the pathway to suggest its looming presence, since time tends to be such a constant preoccupation in life. The images were taken at the Genessee Monastery in New York and the Gethsemane Monastery in Kentucky. 
Unmoored was an attempt to portray a sense of not feeling grounded, of losing direction and focus in one's life. It is not necessarily intended to be a negative reflection, for sometimes those moments can provide glimpses of new horizons we never before imagined. The photographs were taken in Maine on a misty boat ride. 
Astray was made up of images from the Genessee Monastery in New York. In an effort to show a sense of confusion and obscurity, I overlapped layers of tree and pathway images on sheer and opaque fabric and paper.
Ambiguous is made up of manipulated images of the spiral steps inside the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. I wanted to visually process the ambiguity of discerning whether one is making progress. By flipping and overlapping the steps images, I sought to explore the dynamics of progression or growth which invariably involves a combination of moving forward and backward, up and down, back and forth.
Drawn was created from a photograph of the beach in Holland, Michigan on a rather hazy July 4th. The sheer overlay image of steps was taken on a hike at Hocking Hills State Park in Ohio. This combination seemed to really capture the essence of being drawn or pulled toward something, even when that destination is not fully known or understood. 
Aspiration was part of a larger study on what pushes one onward and why. I photographed an old propellor which to me, serves as a great visual metaphor of progression and potential.
Solitude was the first mixed media piece I made using a variety of photo transfer processes. The images used were taken while hiking at the Genessee Monastery in New York. The embedded text ponders the concept of space for oneself and the joy that can be experienced when one carves out space to be alone.
The Clearing was created with an image I had taken in a small, barren chapel in the Tower of London. The structure was so stark and beautiful. I chose to overlay a pathway/tree image that I took at the Genessee Monastery in New York. I actually use this image quite frequently as a visual metaphor for life's journey. The fusion of these images seemed to create an interesting juxtaposition of traveling toward a sense of space or destination or purpose. 
