12” x 12” Encaustic 2024

A new piece for the Susan Wallis Exhibition entitled “Forest Breathing” opening on May 18, 2024 at Elevation Gallery, Fernie

Artist Statement: “I spend  a lot of my outdoor time walking in the forests near my home in Eastern Ontario. They have become my oasis, my safe place.  A place where I can empty my mind and just breathe in the clean forest air.  Whenever I have the opportunity to travel I try to seek out forests to visit.  BC has the most wonderful old forests.  Both on the mainland and on the Gulf Islands.  While preparing for this show I listened daily in my studio to the words by writers who have dedicated their lives to exploring  the complex ecosystems and communication networks of trees. Unraveling the secrets on how trees form communities and care for each other.  ‘Books like 'Forest Walking’ and ‘The Hidden Life of Trees’ by Peter Wohlleben and ‘Finding the Mother Tree’ by Suzanne Simard who is a Canadian scientist and  professor in the Department of Forest and Conservation Sciences at the University of British Columbia. These writings along with  ‘Braiding Seagrass’ Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer,  a Potawatomi botanist, author, and the director of the Center for Native Peoples and the Environment at the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forest, acted as the backdrop to my visual journey into the forest world

I wove their words and findings into the many paintings in this series along with my love affair with the story of Little Red Riding Hood.  I immerse Little Red into our Canadian forests.  And  as a result in this series of paintings  we travel with her into the magical world of the forest embracing both its beauty and hidden dangers.”