Artist Statement

Washington's Olympic Peninsula exemplifies the Pacific Northwest's diverse ecology. The traditional lands to a host of indigenous people, this island of rivers is cut and shaped by water, giving life and form to a unique ecosystem of plants and animals called an endemism. Restoration ecology - informed by the knowledge gained from the Elwha River dam removal (2011 to 2014) – illustrates the fundamental role of free-flowing waters to the lives of salmon, trout and the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe.

Olympica is a series of works incorporating plant pigments gathered as by-products of collecting native seed while working for Olympic National Park. Those seeds went towards the riparian restoration of the former shoreline and lake beds of Lake Aldwell and Lake Mills following the Elwha dam removals.  

Each of the Olympica paintings are constructed from cut paper, ink and the juice of native berries to create ecological allegories. The work celebrates the beauty and spontaneity of free-flowing water by painting with droplets of pigment. It explores how the punctuation, duration and direction of water shapes environments. Each painting’s composition is absorbed in the materials, stories and science of place.