Artist's Statement

This current body of work invites viewers to engage and reflect on the beauty and energy of fire.These paintings, reactions to the devastating images of extreme fire events around the world, acknowledge the imminent threats of drought and climate change as well as the potential for healing. Using metallic paint to effervesce abstract compositions, my aim is to make a compelling visual reference to Kintsugi, the Japanese practice of mending broken pottery with liquid gold, a practice that repairs ‘the broken.’ Elemental fire is a symbol of love, desire, anger, power, strength, and assertiveness. It is also a symbol of transformation: it changes food into energy, ideas into action, and spiritual offerings into smoke. It is also destructive. Of the four elements (earth, water, fire, air), fire is the only one which humans can create. My paintings incorporate all these visual metaphors simultaneously enabling fire’s double-edged ability to heal and harm.