Fins gliding between flood and flight
Her imperious, fertile flesh explodes
Into a field of diamonds: eggs and seeds.
Spawn is an ode to finding the supernatural in the fecundity of the natural world. Inspired by a deep love for birth, this series recounts moments that embody generation— experiences of watching hundreds of wild salmon spawn and die, or honeybees chewing their way out of their eggs for the first time. Fly-fishing is a method I use to attune myself to the natural world that allows me to fully live inside these moments. The repetitive motion of casting centers me into a homeostasis with a deeply focused attention to the surrounding environment. These actions make me feel like an active agent of an ecosystem instead of just a bystander. I feel harmoniously integrated.
Through this integration, I am flooded by the opulence of the natural world. Gargantuan redwoods and microscopic mycelium challenge human conceptions of time and scale. They challenge human attempts to measure or make sense of ambiguity. The verdant rain forests of the Northwest and the bodies of water that cycle through them remind us of the flow of all life. The palpable impulse to reproduce echoes through exploding seed pods, nestled fish eggs, and trembling insect hives, drenched in honey. Eggs and seeds, orbs of infinite life potential, scatter the rivers, flora and fauna, and the crust of the earth.
The fecundity of honeycomb, berries, and salmon roe evoke a pervasive sensuality. They embody the expansive quality of divine femininity—salmon roe and berries as reproductive seeds and honeycomb as a matriarchal mecca of activity. Placed or found in the rocks of riverbeds and ocean shores, these subjects are grounded by the physical earth. As these eggs, hives, and seeds evolve, their swift life cycles clash with the expanse of geological time and history. The repetition of seeds, eggs, and patterns emphasize the multiplication, ordered organization, and replication of matter. I use specific colors and expressive brush strokes to create a heightened sensory environment.
Spawn is a meditation on the birth-like nature of artistic expression – the creation and debut of an original being, idea, or message. The meditations of fly-fishing and painting give way to elusive, sacred experiences – moments of high sensory engagement that have been grown from elaborate processes of learning technique, engaging with materials and lots of practice. These charged moments burn into my memory as earthen, divine intervention. By engaging these experiences into my process of paint, I evolve into a creative gestation and resolution that mimics reproductive processes in the natural world. The direct act of procreation through paint is a process I use to interpret these charged moments.
