I don't think I can explain anything truthfully, for part of it is even a taste in my mouth. I remember walking all summer and the stained color of cherries trampled under the tree. The saturation of light battles with the impossible mystery that I never got over, of sneaking through a jumble of mismatched buildings, wet wood, locust bodies, and the smell of pigs across the road.

Though my eye is filled with many images, even from childhood, communication remains a struggle. I could be straightforward if I knew what to communicate to the viewer. But my journey of making is a means to reveal the message to myself. To get at some thing I cannot name but feel I must discover and grapple with.

More than a question of communication, a sense of dedication (endless, desperate maybe) runs through my work. I have transcribed a novel by hand. Dedication sometimes means attention to craft. But occasionally an urgency breaks through and the use of material is less controlled. I like to think a striving motion weaves through and connects my work, no matter how different my processes can be.

There are words I associate with each piece. Sometimes they come before, sometimes during, and sometimes after. These words exist as my concept of the overall tone. I have tried directly applying the words. In one piece, Clearing, I did this through embroidery. The words mimic the typeface common to dictionaries. The end result (bed sheet used as fabric) was neatly sewn with a backing, folded and pressed. Most of the words remain hidden. The viewer is always considered, even when I choose to keep them at arm's length.

Much like words and language, I have worked with my own sense of arrangement in order to communicate. Installations can be several things in one. They are compositions, narratives, and settings. For me, they began as arrangements of various pieces that were gestural and quickly made. Recently I have been working with the idea of installations as involved settings. If you copy books by hand, where do you keep them when you are done?