Substance is to Essence as Material is to Spiritual?

The last eight+ weeks went by in a blur as all my energy coursed into the temporary public art installation Garden of Essence. The project was so much greater than I anticipated, in all the ways: scale, beauty, difficulty, power.

The project, which was in a small public park around the corner from where I live in North Bay Village, concluded September 30th and was de-installed the following day. I will write about the process of birthing this work and the myriad ways it challenged me when I have time. For now, I will just note that one of the more meaningful aspects of this project was the way in which community—friends, neighbors, and strangers—identified with, supported, and participated in the work.

I’m pleased to invite you to two upcoming exhibits which feature a new body of work I’ve been cultivating since the spring. My Everglades Ossuary series uses ethically-sourced bones of invasive Burmese pythons to form sculptural tapestries.

Women Pulling at the Threads of Social Discourse: Don’t Be Absurd
The Contemporary Art Modern Project
October 17 - December 20
Opening Friday, October 17th at 6pm

Certain ideas sustain us when we are in the thick of it.

Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.

We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny.

Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.

Anyone who lives inside the United States can never be considered an outsider anywhere within its bounds.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Letter from a Birmingham Jail
1963

I carried a handwritten copy of this text during the more challenging moments of the last months. If you have not read Dr. King’s letter recently, you may be moved by how prescient, timely, and relevant his thinking remains.