Pedestrian Series: This new body of work, begun in late 2013, finds its inspiration and title from the stylized figurative pictograms found on crosswalk signs. Pictograms are found in all areas of modern daily life. Pictograms are used as graphically iconic imagery to convey messages on traffic signs, warning labels, and electronic devices.

Steeped in a rich history of image making, pictograms are found on stone-age cave walls, and were used as the foundation for early written language forms, such as cuneiform and Egyptian Hieroglyphics. In North America, native peoples have been using pictographic imagery for centuries, from rock faces and cave walls to the totem poles of northwest coastal tribes. It is from this rich historical and contemporary context that the Pedestrian Series finds its generative roots.

Shortly after beginning concept sketches for this body of work, it became clear that the figuration required more detail than the pedestrian pictogram offered. As such, the figure has developed more complex and individualized "muscle tone." The figure then becomes less generic, less everyman, less…pedestrian.

Silhouette Series: This body of work includes large-scale graphite drawings on paper, and more modestly sized ink drawings on vellum. In each work, I reduce a selected image to a symbol by making it a silhouette.

By paying meticulous attention to the image's edge, building up layers of marks, and creating a unique object that is obviously handmade, I charge the symbol with added meaning.

I enjoy exploring the tenuous balance between locking the image in a surface of heavily worked graphite or ink, and its disintegration toward the edges of the paper or vellum. But I am also intent on making beautiful drawings that exploit the silver iridescence of graphite and the mysterious blackness of ink.

In the black-on-black drawings, I introduce a now-you-see-it, now-you-don't experience for the viewer, which also alludes to darker psychological content particular symbols may hold.

Preparatory Ink and Graphite Drawings for the Curt Gowdy State Park Visitor Center proposal: These are ink on vellum and graphite on tracing paper. Not all of these concepts made it into the final project. Go to the Public Art page for more about this project, and images of the final pieces.

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