On a morning when everything seems bright and possible, a parent's nasty words to a child, a dirty cat drinking from a puddle in the gutter of a busy street, a sickly horse pulling a carriage up Eighth Avenue, or most anything in the news can trigger a collapse inside me.  It all seems so unnecessary; consideration, empathy, and generosity are equally there for the choosing.  But clashing beliefs, greed, failing educational systems, and patterns of abuse handed from one generation to the next have narrowed people's vision, fueled their anger, and instilled profound fears of difference and change. 

My work is a response to the carelessness people inflict on each other and the world.  It is an act of caretaking that says I object.  Because each of us has or grows into a choice.  Each of us can make one small, individual decision after another and, through accumulation, produce a shift.

I use everyday materials and processes as a way of calling attention to the potential for transformation inherent in the ordinary.  Working this way requires me to pay close attention and experience the effects of each small decision, and it has taught me what’s important to me: bringing care to our smallest acts.  My work invites the viewer into a parallel process.  It asks for her close attention, to it and to herself in relation to it.  If all goes well, her sensitivities are stirred and a small, contagious shift goes out into the world.

May 2010