About

Artist Statement

I draw on nature to evoke contemplation of the interconnectivity between life, environment and spiritual dimensions.

At the threshold where nature and spiritual converge, we perceive a Presence beyond-human.  Encounters range from faintest ripples of sensation, through to overwhelming manifestation of power.  My body of work makes this visual, and participates in the art-historical dialogue of the Sublime, but from an intimate perspective.  This recognizes the contemporary existential crisis suffered by the individual (Snowball 2011), and the global need for conservation of both nature and nurture (Foundation for Deep Ecology 2012).  The work is relevant to our “post-secular” culture, where religion is regarded as a “province of thought within, rather than a refusal of, intellect” (White 2006,5).

Meditative collaboration with nature, using a paint recipe that was in my head one morning upon waking, evokes a spiritual narrative connected to the gold and shimmering colour mentioned Biblically in Revelation 4, 21 and 22 (God’s Word 1995).  It also links historically to the stained glass windows of Gothic Cathedrals, and to Grace Cossington Smith’s expression of “things unseen… the golden threads running through time” (NGA 2017). The possibility that my work may serve as “locus theologicus” (Zordan and Knauss 2013,5) – a space where my viewer may experience revelation – compels me.

(Please scroll down for Reference List)

Links

Contact me, visit my blog, check out my YouTube videos, and see my Linked In profile , or subscribe to the RSS link on the side bar of my blog page, to stay connected.

Copyright

All work featured on this website (images and text) is my own, with all rights reserved.

Header font

The font featured on my website header is “Covered by Your Grace” by Kimberly Geswein – with sincere appreciation.

Reference List:

Foundation for Deep Ecology. 2012. “Platform.” Accessed January 4, 2017 at http://www.deepecology.org/platform.htm

God’s Word.  1995.  Michigan, USA: World Publishing, Inc.

National Gallery of Australia.  2017.  “Collection: Grace Cossington Smith.” http://artsearch.nga.gov.au/Detail.cfm?IRN=45746

Snowball, Arryn.  2011.  “Delineating Nihilism: Colin McCahon’s Last Paintings.”  PhD diss., Griffith University. http://www120.secure.griffith.edu.au/rch/file/ee2feaf6-f190-74b4-c115-f77a993b8727/1/Snowball_2011_02Thesis.pdf

White, Jan.  2006.  “Antipodean Translations: Colin McCahon and His Topoi of Belief.”  Antipodes 20 (1): 4-10. http://search.proquest.com.dbgw.lis.curtin.edu.au/docview/211343223

Zordan, Davide and Stephanie Knauss.  2013.  “Following the Traces of God in Art: Aesthetic Theology as Foundational Theology.”  CrossCurrents 63 (1): 4-8.     http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com.dbgw.lis.curtin.edu.au/doi/10.1111/cros.12009/full