(This statement was written for a show at the end of my residency at Sitka Center for Art and Ecology in 1999) 

 Residency at Sitka Center for Art and Ecology

&

The  Collecting  Project 

For 28 days beginning on the new moon in March, I visited and collected things from each of these four places:

Sitka's grounds

Crowley Creek

The Salmon River

The Pacific Coast 

During this "collection period" I was also gathering a variety of maps of the area and learning how to use my computer's scanner to reproduce and alter the maps.  In addition, I began to experiment with making dyes for paper using natural materials found in the area.

The last six weeks of the residency were spent playing with combinations of the maps and items collected.  I started out making map covered objects and ended up making reliquaries.  Somewhere along the way, the idea of timelines and calendars came into play. 

Reading and research are always important to my artistic process.   The research during my stay at Sitka started out with deep ecology and bioregionalism; and later became an interest in "new" physics, holographic universe theory, and systems for displaying information.  I find myself ending the residency with a desire to further investigate the activity of collecting and an interest in further exploring the relationship of art and science.