Client: University of Kentucky Healthcare

Overview

There were 6 paintings total.  Three 36″x72″, two 36″x96″, and one 72″ circle.  The materials are water based pigment and medium on panel.

Goals

"When Swift You Will See Us Glide Across the Land, Waltz Above the Trees, Skip Through Space, and Crawl Under the Sea."

The representations in the six paintings are rooted in Earth's natural elements of land, sky, space, and ocean. I was inspired by the lost city of Atlantis, 2001 Space Odyssey, Howel's Moving Castle, deep space and sea exploration, and the many scientific and technological discoveries that have influenced our human condition. The human-animal hybrids, seen throughout the works, are characters with unique contraptions navigating each scene in the dynamic light of collaboration, exploration, and discovery. The story expressed across these six panels reflects how success can be achieved through family, friendship, and community.

Process

Creation of projects like these is a collaborative process with the people who inhabit the space and the visitors who will be interacting with the art. This not only involves working closely with those who manage the space in a physical sense (engineers and architects) but also, for instance, a collaboration with the doctors and patients of the University of Kentucky Pediatric Oncology Center, for whom I created six large pieces that told a story based in whimsical and fantastic imagery, allowing both children and adults a chance to journey out of the everyday, as far as their minds could take them.