Connections 2 (2005)

About the Artist:
I didn't think I'd ever live this long. Doctors warn me that people with my diagnosis don't live past 40. The world gets small, mean and encapsulated in this way. I've been in so many traps – abused, institutionalized, homeless, sick ... But before all that I painted, believed in a god, was a good kid living on a farm in Iowa.

Good and bad, experience makes everyone into an artist in some way. Intercepting and making art connects me viscerally to the moment. Then I can find my way. Then I know who I am. I feel alive. I have something real to offer.

Carl Jung wrote "As far as we can discern, the purpose of human experience is to kindle a light of meaning in the darkness of mere being". For me, Jung has also written the most fitting description for art and the artist. For the doctors, I say "Ars longa, vita brevis".

Artist's Statement:
I am a self-taught artist and have been making art since childhood. I use water-based paints, because they’re great receivers and amplifiers of memories and dreams. I use pen-and-ink, pencil and mixed media for their stark, sculptural and stirring nature. My new favourite media are tin cans and pie tins, which I make into dioramas that hang on the wall (some have music box mechanisms inside and parts that glow in the dark.)

I like to use bold colors – a habit I picked up from my Grandma Jessie. Every time she went to the dime store, she bought a different coloured skein of yarn and crocheted them all into a cacophony of shades. She had made it through the Great Depression, and taught me that the less you have to work with, the more powerful is your imagination.

Just the act of painting provides its own inspiration, but music is the most vital source for my work. Louis Armstrong said, "There are two kinds of music the good and the bad". I like the good kind-all of it. This may be why my artwork is a bit over the map.

While my work varies in style, it all shares a kind of storybook quality. The Red Rabbit is a leading character. He's a trickster and protector of souls in my dreams. Other characters include Riding Hood and the Wolf, crows and other animals and Death. My dream is to write and illustrate books that appeal to both children and adults. My hope is to make art that is inviting and transporting. My work often seems to get an emotional response from people. This may be my only true measure of success.