Stratum Series

This body of work is intensely autobiographical and self-referential, made by layering repeating patterns derived from my paintings and reference photographs melded into single, multi-layer artworks. Each pattern layer recalls something significant, and each piece's title offers a clue. They are a collection of pictorial short stories. Each artwork is small and intimate, created by working up close as I hand cut the geometric shapes and position the layers. Their size invites viewers in close where they find intricacy and chance.

I use Photoshop, AutoCAD, and Repper software to design the templates and patterns. Many different patterns are then printed on archival paper, from which shapes are ultimately hand cut using a geometric template. After I choose the pattern for the top layer, subsequent layers have no pre-arranged order, nor is there a pre-defined number of layers. The choice of successive lower layers is driven by intuition, trying variable positions until "something clicks" and settles the design. Shapeshifting, juxtaposition of colors, and pattern mixing occur while sliding these cutout pattern sheets relative to one another before fixing their final positions. Unexpected relationships and new meanings develop between the disparate elements of the layered patterns as only parts of the lower layers show through the openings in the layers above.

My education and experience are in the visual arts, architectural engineering, and environmental design. Those aspects of my life drive the ideas, techniques, and craft behind my artwork. I call these artworks Stratums, referring to the geological term of laying down material in horizontal layers. Stratums reflect my deep interest in how our landscapes form and their intersections with history, art, and the built environment.