Disrupted Gardens includes a subseries, Specimens, three-dimensional paintings made from natural materials and trash I’ve found on walks combined with encaustic paint.  Specimens are physical products from thought experiments on a post-apocalyptic environment where nature has evolved, for better or worse, a unique way to synthesize environmental pollutants by fusing these with plants, fungi, rocks, and skeletal remains.  I use encaustic (warm wax and pigment) to bind the materials together as it can be manipulated to mimic many surfaces and substances in nature.  In the spirit of Fluxus, Specimens are political, experimental, and emphasize the practice and process over the product. The objects are intended to invite the viewer to determine the validity of the “artwork” and their response to an environmental statement.  The objects encourage the viewer to make their own existential DIY proposals.  The content of each piece unfolds during the process and is usually completed in an hour or no more than a day.

In a time of climate change, economic stressors, pandemics, and toxic politics we need to slow down and open-mindedly consider new perspectives to solve these problems and strengthen our fragile connection to each other and the environment. Similarly, an artist, by investigating innovative creative processes can find alternative ways of making, thinking, and seeing that serve as catalyst for artistic growth and ultimately positive change for our planet. What do we practice individually and collectively?

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Re-Flower

Encaustic and found materials (knee-high hose, stones, pebbles, ceiling tile from burned building, nails, guerrilla glue), c. 4″x7″x6″, 2022

Incendiary

Encaustic and found materials (burned timber, packing foam, concrete shards, birch branches), c. 19″x10″x10″, 2023

Plug-In

Encaustic and found materials (birch branches, plastic wrap, miniature plastic icicles, tree slice, power cord), c. 13″x11″x11″, 2023

Hallowed Ledge

Encaustic and found materials (burned metal, packaging netting, pine needles, rubber band, seed pod, nail, screws), c. 7″x12″x8″, 2023

Go-Round

Encaustic and found materials (tree slice, twigs, wasp’s comb, seed pad, crocheted doily, lace), c. 11″x11″x11″, 2023

Bugged

Encaustic and found materials (assorted weathered wood, wasp’s comb, assorted tree branches), c. 34″x15″x10″, 2023

A-Tasket

Encaustic and found materials (burned electric wire, stones, pipe cleaners), c. 8″x6.5″x6.5″, 2023

Omen

Encaustic and found materials (tree slice, tree shards, recycled plastic wrap and bag, tree branch, nails), c. 22″x9″x9″, 2023

Bricolate

Encaustic and found materials (concrete shards, seed pods, stones), c. 11″x7″x6″, 2023

Ashtray

Encaustic and found materials (ashtray, petrified fungi, concrete scrap), c. 13″x5″x8″, 2022

Backhanded

Encaustic and found materials (section of tree branch, bead, assorted recycled plastic items, wire), c. 13″x5″x15″, 2022

Cyano-Hot-Tub

Encaustic and found materials (concrete scraps, recycled bottom of plant vase, electronic cord, used paper towel, tree branch slice), c. 9″x11″x10″, 2022

Just Dessert?

Encaustic and found materials (metal pipe with ends, remains of carpet, plaster board, wood from burned building, birds nest, aluminum wire), c. 14″x11″x10″, 2022

Adrift

Encaustic and found materials (metal from burned building, flag, coconut shell, tree bark), c. 13″x5″x8″, 2022

Carpet Dancer

Encaustic and found materials (carpet and plastic scraps from burned building, wire, cotton cloth, electronic cord, branch), c. 20″x12″x8″, 2022

Five Pack

Encaustic and found materials (wooden drawer knob, dried seed cones, walnut, tree bark, computer usb cord, plastic milk carton pull tabs), c. 8″x8″x8″, 2022

Brush-off

Encaustic and found materials (stack of tree branch slices, latex bladder from speed bag, wire, hair from bristle paint brush, burned wood, plastic seal), c. 10″x7″x5″, 2022

Evolving Mycelium

Encaustic and found materials (cheese cloth, section of tree branch, steel pipe, wire, weed trimmer line, blue satin cord found at burned down building), c. 15″x7″x10″, 2022

River's Edge

Encaustic and found materials (stone, dried grass, recycled plastic), c. 8″x5″x6″, 2022

Stacked and Grounded

Encaustic and found materials (broken ceiling and roof tile, section of concrete from burned building, tree branch slices,   birch tree bark, bird feathers, rubber bands), c. 13″x5″x8″, 2022

Tipping Point

Encaustic and found materials (brick from compost facility, coconut shell, rocks, melted plastic wrap), c. 11″x5″x4″, 2022

Bud

Encaustic and found materials (insulation foam from burned building, sticks, cheese cloth), c. 22″x13″x8″, 2022

Wabi-sabi

Encaustic and found materials (sticks, steel l-rod, leaves, rubber bands, bone, ceramic shard, stick, elastic string), 8″x5″x3″, 2021

Warning

Encaustic and found materials (rocks, sections of sticks, cigarette butts, cancer warning label), 7.5″x3.5″x3.5″, 2021

Plastic Present

Encaustic and found materials (stones, plastic discard, burned wood, rope), 3. 6″x5″x2″, 2021

Glass Mushrooms

Encaustic and found materials (plastic, pottery shard, glass, branch sections), c. 3.5″x5.5″x4″, 2021

Sailing Bread Tag

Encaustic and found materials (tree branch, burned wood, plastic bread tag), 2021

Filament

Encaustic and found materials (piece of ceramic bird bath, plastic yard trimming line, tree branch slice, fossil), c. 15″x5″x8″, 2022

Wild Island Pull Tab

Encaustic and found materials (log chunk, burned wood, pine needed, aluminum pull tab), c. 5″x8″x4″, 2021

Sky on Half Shell

Encaustic and found materials (branch pieces, wine corks, salt rocks, rocks, animal teeth, oyster shell), 5″x3″x5″, 2021

Disney Princess

Encaustic and found materials (rubber glove, Disney Princess label, glass, ceramic shard, burned wood), 8″x8″x7″, 2021

Bud Light

Encaustic and found materials (cement fragment, animal teeth, bud light cap, hair, dried grass), 5″x4.5″x2.5″, 2021