For the Interim Flood Protection Measures Mural Project, the NYC Mayor's Offices of Climate Policy and Programs and Emergency Management commissioned artists to design banners to beautify 700 feet of semi-permanent HESCO barriers (sandbag walls) in Red Hook, Brooklyn. The barrier structures have been deployed in segments along Beard and Reed Streets with various openings to allow for normal vehicle and pedestrian traffic. When a storm surge from a coastal storm is forecast, the barrier walls will be connected with quickly deployable inflatable walls (Tiger Dams).

The barriers and artwork are on display indefinitely. My mural in on Reed Street between Van Brunt and Conover.

Live oak landscapes are instrumental in preventing and controlling erosion. This digitally rendered design evolved from a painting of light and shadow shapes traced as sunlight sifted through an oak tree canopy. The painting is affected by the clouds in the sky, the rotating of the Earth that causes the shadows to shift and stretch, the breeze moving the leaves and fabric, and the pace at which I see and trace each light and shadow shape. The completed painting was photographed, drawn, scanned and manipulated digitally to arrive at a design that embodies both the Red Hook landscape and the purpose of the HESCO barriers. Like the vulnerable Red Hook landscape, the painting is affected by weather and human action. The layered pattern mirrors the coastal beauty and potential threat as it flows and ripples like water. The arboreal source material mirrors the functionality of the HESCO barriers to protect the land from water damage.

The window installation, Sift/Reflect, softens the light streaming in through the boathouse windows and suggests the presence of nature. I created the pattern from a large fabric painting made under an oak tree canopy in an upstate New York forest. As sunlight streams in through the windows, the rectilinear shapes cascading throughout the boathouse are filled with the dappled patterns of light filtering through leaves. This transplanted landscape softens the industrial environment with layers of action (sifting, reflecting, filtering); a visual metaphor for the revitalization of the canal itself.

Throughout the day, light patterns cascade on the floor, across the canoes, and up the boathouse walls.

During an artist residency at Otto’s Abode, I created artwork in collaboration with the residency and village. I provided a box of light shape stencils, the large waxed cotton panel, and instructions to the community members who participated in determining the composition and cutting out the shapes. The compositions of my work are usually developed in collaboration with weather, time, and plants in the landscape. I was curious to see what would happen when I welcomed other people to collaborate on developing the composition. How would the random light shapes be associated and arranged? Shadows exist where the light does not. What happens when we arrange the light shapes with no regard for the the shadows?

During the summer and fall, Otto’s Abode moved the Visiting Landscape Apparatus to different locations in the village, wilderness, and Ranger School, so the artwork could weather in response to and filter the light of a variety of settings in the area. After months of exposure outdoors, the small panel turned a mysterious green/grey color, and was brought into the Otto's Abode General Store for closer observation. The source of the color change has yet to be determined. The large panel was brought in from the forest at the start of hunting season so as not to confuse the hunters.

BLVD Project, Rockaway Beach, Queens, NY
108th Street and Rockaway Beach Boulevard
On view from Memorial Day - Labor Day 2017

By bringing the forest to the beach, I unite the two landscapes that are enjoyed when escaping from the city.

On the rooftop of artists studio building in Bronx, New York
2017