Encounters

Mixed Media Works on Paper | 11 x 14
2016-2017

Loretta S.W. Barnett
Jesse W. Lane
Diane J. Stendahl

"Encounters" is the first three-person collaboration I did with artists Loretta S.W. Barnett and Diane J. Stendahl. Interestingly, Diane started the works in January of 2016, but she and I did not meet for the first time until September.

See Press for Collaborations

Documenting the Process

“Explaining the process, Barnett said one artist worked on a piece and sent it - by U.S. mail - to the next, who made notes and offered suggestions that were forwarded to the last person.”

— Patricia A. Hines, Stamford Advocate

Since the advent of the digital camera, I have photographed my work in various stages of development; in the beginning, I did this to document what I liked (i.e., what was working) and was afraid to lose through additional work. The photographs gave me the permission I needed to move the works forward in ways that resolved the compositions, even if what I liked was ultimately lost in the process.

Because the collaborative works were less controlled than my solo works, I thought it would be even more interesting to document how each of these evolved as they passed from artist to artist. In many cases, the transformations were dramatic.

Interestingly, I never felt hurt or insulted if a contribution I had made to one of the works was covered in a later stage. The beauty of this project was the freedom it gave each of us to set aside our egos and tackle design challenges we might have intentionally avoided in our solo works.