Migration

This is the first in a series of fish prints that I made this summer. Each fish was caught by Fred in Washington, over this summer, then I painted the fish with dye and rubbed it onto a piece of fabric. Once the print was made I cleaned the dye off of the fish (and we ate it). The multi step process of printing the fish takes several days. It is very labor intensive.

Once I returned to Colorado I applied many of the pieces of plastic, shell and other items that I found on the beach or saved from household trash. The fish print was then painted, dyed and embellished with many different layers of machine quilting. This was a lot of work, but I enjoyed the entire process. It was fun to see the fish become a painting and come to life. My friend Ken Juliano gallery mounted the piece and took this photograph.

To explain my philosophy I have added a copy of my artist statement:

Artist Statement

After years of working in glass, sculpture and fabric I have started to work my knowledge of different mediums into each piece. I fabricate art from found objects and embellishments, adding dimension and making my work interactive with the viewer. Looking closely at my work the viewer can discover plastic wrap, buttons, copper and silver wire, beads, shells, and pieces of discarded items I have found on the shore. The found objects have become coral, fish eye, scales, flowers, insects and much more. The incorporation of man made objects to represent items in nature is to ask the question: “Where is the separation of man and nature?”

In this series, Salmon Migration, the fish is swimming through natural and man made debris to her final destination. Some of the coral and ocean floor is recovering nature as it grows through the plastic, making it part of the scene.