The Artist’s Statement.

There was a time I had to send my small child away from me, to an unknown place, unknown things. I sent 10,000 horses with him for protection.  I told myself, he’ll be ok, the horses are with him. They are power and stability.

I grew up in the high desert on a cattle ranch, surrounded by horses, they were my friends, my refuge, they protected me and later became a symbol of strength and security in my life. A horse is the totem that you want. But maggots? Who wants maggots? When I was a child, I flipped over a dead cat and was introduced to the maggot. The maggot. So ugly, vital, healing. Repulsion and fascination led to a beginning of contrasts between innocence and experience, power and vulnerability, death, loss and birth. In my adult life I have learned to sit down at the table with the shadowy side of myself and the world, and to invite a conversation, so we can heal together.  In this work I have played with something deep and vulnerable in the thread of my experience.  The thread itself is me.  Parts of me are growing, parts are expiring, and I am curious. These totems, their stories and the work have become my fables, my teachers, and my friends.