"Of all the possible pathways of disorder, nature favors just a few...Nature constrains the shape of things." (Gleick, 1987)
I was taught early in school that the universe has a natural tendency to move towards disorder and chaos. I could never understand this statement in light of all of the pattern and order that I observed all around me. Scientists have recently begun to study and understand this border between order and chaos. Our world is in a constant state of transition. People take comfort in routine and predictability, but outside influences are constantly making it difficult to maintain this control. The seemingly minor choices we make on a daily basis can have a major impact on our lives when examined over time. Our lives are filled with chance occurrences that can alter the paths we take.
It is being learned that the random events in our lives must obey universal physical forces. This is recognized through the patterns created. These patterns may be observed in the visual patterns created through geometry and the building blocks of life. They may also take place over time to form the rhythms in our lives. This new area of study is a science of process rather than physical state. We tend to view our lives from moment to moment and lose sight of the evolution that is taking place. It is this process which I am interested in, and in particular, its influence on each of our lives.
In my work I strive to allude to evolutionary forces and the way they have controlled the form, structure, and patterns of our world. I utilize a variety of textile techniques that, I feel, exhibit the same type of chance occurrences that occur in nature. I use technical process to talk about physical process. Also, fragmentation and recombination of multiple images add to the sense of constant change and a system in transition. I combine these techniques with images that allude to biology and pattern at both the microscopic and macroscopic level. I employ a variety of techniques to allude to the dynamic ever-changing energy associated with evolution. I am intrigued by the fact that the forces that shape rivers, produce the stripes on a tiger, and control the formation of snowflakes are the same forces that control political, economic, and social systems.
By using repetition, mathematical progression and simple pattern, I can appeal to the viewer's innate sense of order - the search for underlying order, unity and the search for understanding. The splitting and recombining of images encourages the viewer to simultaneously combine the parts into a unified visual whole while trying to isolate the constituent parts. I aim for images that are energetic and open to interpretation without being merely confusing. The result is similar to the tension created when one is on the verge of solving a puzzle. The solution is in sight but not yet attained.
The physical and mathematical constraints imposed on humans and nature produce a variety of similar patterns when comparing microscopic and macroscopic environments. I use pattern and each viewer's innate pattern recognition to refer to the building blocks of nature and to the natural forces that control biological morphology. By combining these visual images into a unified whole, I hope to convey the universal nature of these physical processes. It is the growth and development of the understanding of these processes that has helped shape my work and my perception of the world around us.
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The University of Kansas School of Fine Arts Lawrence, KS 66045 785/864-3421 |
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