“Bee Space,” handmade paper, soy milk, natural dyes, 18.25 x 18.75 in.

This piece is made from six pieces of handmade cotton watercolor paper painted down the center with a 3/8” line of soy milk, the size of the crawl space honeybees require to traverse their own structures, as well as manufactured beehives. The paper was then dyed using three locally gathered plants: black locust (left column), yarrow (middle column), and rudbeckia (right column.) By bringing attention to the space honeybees most commonly inhabit for human benefit using pigment from beneficial pollinator plants, we face multiple complexities such as what does it mean for bee space to be a positive line versus negative space we measure in inches. What is space and what can scale allow us to imagine? To consider that this 3/8 of inch is like a hallway for honeybees, and the flowers they pollinate are suited to their particular size is placing ourselves on their level, looking at the world around us with a stronger sense of empathy.

Exhibited as part of the Silent Fields Exhibition at Kaiser Gallery from April 8 - June 5, 2022.

"Goldenrod Portrait," handmade paper, goldenrod flower, iron, copper, 6 x 8 in. each

This piece is made from only paper, iron and flowers from my garden. By clamping the flowers between two sheets of cotton watercolor paper, adding some iron from a rusty found object and steaming the bundle over a pot of boiling water, the colorants of the plant are transferred to paper. The outcome is a print but also a portrait of the plant in that particular moment of time, transforming from the colors we view them as in bloom to the colors of their chemical bodies, which reveal more of a spirit and hidden energy.

"St. John's Wort Portrait," handmade paper, St. John's Wort flower, iron, copper, 6 x 8 in. each

This piece is made from only paper, iron and flowers from my garden. By clamping the flowers between two sheets of cotton watercolor paper, adding some iron from a rusty found object and steaming the bundle over a pot of boiling water, the colorants of the plant are transferred to paper. The outcome is a print but also a portrait of the plant in that particular moment of time, transforming from the colors we view them as in bloom to the colors of their chemical bodies, which reveal more of a spirit and hidden energy.

"Cosmos Portrait," handmade paper, cosmos flower, iron, copper, 6 x 8 in. each

This piece is made from only paper, iron and flowers from my garden. By clamping the flowers between two sheets of cotton watercolor paper, adding some iron from a rusty found object and steaming the bundle over a pot of boiling water, the colorants of the plant are transferred to paper. The outcome is a print but also a portrait of the plant in that particular moment of time, transforming from the colors we view them as in bloom to the colors of their chemical bodies, which reveal more of a spirit and hidden energy.

"Cosmos" up-cycled cotton, natural dyes, 16 x 20 in.

"Cosmos" up-cycled cotton, natural dyes, 16 x 20 in.

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