I believe that life often beckons for our adaptation — a softening and discerning of our ever-changing edges. In this new world born of the pandemic, our acute awareness of near climate disaster, and the growing recognition that our actions affect one another — how do we as individuals adapt to the tides of change that pull us in and out of our days and still keep some of our reserves for ourself?

These paintings languor in a space in-between — figures in metamorphic states held in water, softening and unwinding. I've held the idea offered by Tara Brack close: when the idea of the self softens when it’s no longer our exclusive identity, what remains is this vastness, this mysterious openness, and wakefulness that is the essence of all.

These new resin-layered paintings integrate hand-made pigments made of crushed gemstones. Some figures are being stretched within black tourmaline waters, edges glowing with crushed red jasper and green malachite— minerals that offer protection. The creatures are backed by selenite powder, welcoming the viewer to a place to recharge. They offer the metaphysical properties of black tourmaline, selenite, rose quartz, malachite, and red jasper — stones that offer energetic protection and clearing.

While I’ve been painting, I think of identity shifting as akin to the miracle of the making of a butterfly. In the early stages, a caterpillar creates a barrier to the world, a cocoon to incubate. A land-bound creature whose body is urged to a type of death, dissolving and recomposing itself utterly. One day, this self-made portal pushes it out into the world -- a being carried on a breeze.

These pieces meditate on that transitional space. I want them to hold you in their arms as you feel the deep changes of life pulling at your threads, tugging at your unraveling.

As a new world beckons to be born from the strife of the times, who will we become as individuals who are undoubtedly connected, interrelated, and a part of everything? I say this humbly as someone who struggles with transitions. The creative practice and the imagination it affords help me digest what is beyond words.

May we ease into the uncertainty of our undoings tethered to something like hope and compassion for ourselves and one another.