In 2018 I wanted to return my roots in painting and drawing. I applied for a Maine Arts Commission Project Grant to help me achieve this through a new body of work that blended my studio jewelry with printmaking. The resulting exhibition, Intimate Universe, opened in the fall of 2019.

At that time I was hiking and walking regularly in the White Mountains of New Hampshire and in Maine. Hiking days of 5-10 miles fed my inspiration and led me to the “intimate universe”. Walking over roots and rocks, seaweed and sand allowed me to observe my footfalls and beauty on the scale of the microcosm. I contemplated our human place as a speck within the greater macrocosm of the universe.

Completing this work would not have been possible without time spent in 2019 at Haystack’s Studio Based Residency. I took great pleasure in once again grappling with ideas both old and new while making and re-inventing my studio practice. The Intimate Universe exhibition laid the ground work for my current studio practice in both painting and the continuation of making objects both on and off the body.