Newton’s Apple / Gravity Installation

I worked on an apple installation this morning. I started small to get to know my materials better. I realized that the narrow rods are very bendy under the weight of the apples. I want them to be narrow so that they’re both nearly invisible and they don’t destroy the fruit. I want to do a much bigger one. I need to figure out how to create an armature that can withstand the weight without being too visible. I also want a little more blue sky, is that too much to ask?! The apples do look great in the environment, and I appreciate that they’re the state fruit of Washington where I live. Of course, there is tons of conceptual baggage to deal with, with apples. Right now I don’t really care about that!

Apple Collection for a New Installation

Temporary outdoor intervention going in on Friday. Stay tuned for more photos.

A Rainy Day in the Seattle Suburbs

It’s a rainy day in the Seattle suburbs, but at least the birds are singing.

Signal Fire Residency: Campfires

These are some of my favorite fire images from my residency in Arizona with Signal Fire. A couple years ago, I started taking photos of our campfires. Now, I’m reenergized to continue this series. Deer Creek Canyon, Mazatzal Wilderness, Tonto National Forest, Arizona

Signal Fire Residency: Water

Here are some more images from my residency with Signal Fire. It occurs to me that the work from this residency revolves quite naturally around themes of nature: earth, water, fire. Look in earlier posts for earth, and stay tuned for fire images to come soon! Mazatzal Wilderness, Tonto National Forest, Arizona

Signal Fire Residency: Cairn Village

I just returned from a week backpacking in the Arizona wilderness. I was on a residency with Signal Fire, a fantastic organization that takes artists into the wild to think about the relationships between art and nature and landscape. Each day, one participant led a “deep play” exercise for the group. When it was my turn, I invited everyone to collaborate to create a cairn village in the riverbed. The whole process was meditative and mindful. We worked in silence, and then surveyed our work. In the spirit of “leave no trace”, I tore it down once I got the photos. I was conflicted, because despite the ideal of leaving no trace I’m drawn to the comfort that cairns bring. A cairn represents other human interaction, coming upon one indicates that I’m not lost. Even though I might be the only person for miles, there is a kind of conversation that happens through cairns between strangers and over time. There’s something really special about that relationship. Stay tuned for more images to come. Mazatzal Wilderness, Tonto National Forest, Arizona, USA

My Dog, Running with a Stick

I love this photo of my #dog, Kala! She loves her morning run/walk. #dog #dog walk #chasing sticks #running

Inspiring Artist: Danae Stratou

Desert Breath is a stunning earth work in Egypt, completed in 1997 by artist @DanaeStratou and her team. It’s pretty much just displaced sand piled into a spiraling pattern on the desert floor. What’s fascinating and surprising is that it has remained intact almost 20 years after it’s completion. I’ve lived in the American Southwest and also in the Northwest — one desert environment, and one mostly forest and water. It’s interesting how time affects each of these types of landscapes differently. It moves so much slower in the desert. Human marks can last decades, even centuries. But in the forest, all that extra water allows nature’s processes of decay and growth to happen much faster. Human imprints can be wiped out in a much shorter timeframe. #Danae Stratou #Land Art #Landscape #Art #Environment #Inspiring Artist

What I’m Reading Now

The stack of books I’m sifting through these days. #art #landscape #nature

View from Mount Waterman

View from the top of Mt. Waterman in the Angeles National Forest. What a fantastic day!

The Drawing that Makes Itself — Variation 07

Here are some more images from my recent series of Drawings That Make Themselves in the Sierra National Forest in California. That granite is such a great substrate for the drawings. I would love to go back and do more of these drawings sometime.

Variation number 07 was about how the liquid transfers from one surface angle to another.