Mixed Media | This collage was done as an assignment for my drawing class. I found a book of beautiful aerial photographs of glaciers and combined sources from that with pieces I found in another book of photographs taken in and around my hometown of South Lake Tahoe, California. As this piece came together, it more or less took on a life and message of its own and guided me subconsciously towards the final product.

Watercolor, Paper Collage | It’s watercolor and paper collage. I took the paper pieces from photos of a family member’s house that burnt down last year in Paradise, CA. Both climate impact and human impact on the environment have caused heartbreaking catastrophe. That family member sent me photos of items found in the ashes of their home. They said anytime they smell smoke, they are traumatized now. I was struck by the figurine in my painting as it reminded me of iconic Christian imagery, so I painted it to match Spanish folk icons. There’s something both heartbreaking and reverent about grief. We have to make space for it, it will not be ignored. Part of the grieving process involves the irony of hope - hopes lost and new emergent hope. Hopefully I captured a small moment of pain, irony, and hope altogether.

Size : 7.5x14.5 inches

Mixed Media | Last year I was admitted to the hospital for two weeks. As an environmentalist, I was horrified by the amount of medical waste that I was producing while lying in my bed. As an artist, I saw my medical waste as wonderful art material, and I started a collection. As I rehabilitated I began to turn my medical “garbage” into pieces of art.

While receiving a chemotherapy treatment to slow the progression of my MS, I showed my nurse my work and asked for my medical waste. She became fond of my art, offered me all of the clinic’s “non-COVID” medical waste, and gave me a bag of the plastic caps off of glass chemotherapy vials.

My piece is, “Grief; Gratitude; Growth;” It expresses what can come from all grief, including climate; if we choose to process it in a positive way. 10” x 10” Mixed Media on wood panel.