In 2009 we moved to New Zealand for a year. Living in a beautiful neighborhood the flora of New Zealand came to the forefront of my visual thinking. Lime green pinecones, pink pincushion flowers and red ginger flowers thrilled me and inspired the work I made in my tiny home studio.
The work still contained suggestions of architectural ornamentation and referred to decorative history as well. Years ago I did a series of roof ornaments based on architectural ornamentation that I had seen in Portugal. Some of these forms and ideas were resurfacing with this body of work. I also saw the work referencing patterns from 17th century Persian paintings.
Then I discovered the incredible woven traps used to catch sea life from all over the South Pacific and on view at the Auckland War Museum. The last piece in my New Zealand series was a vase trapped. This piece set off a series of mostly unsuccessful pieces I worked on for a period when we returned to the U.S.
While all of these ideas fuel the work my goal is to have the visual inspirations remain sufficiently abstracted to encourage the viewer to take a closer look. My intention is to give rise to curiosity.