My work starts with a story, a traditional folktale or fable, or a contemporary poem or memorable phrase. The work itself is driven by the images that these stories evoke, and is propelled further by every brush-stroke, mark making, blade cut, and gesture laid down in the aftermath. The stories and myths of a culture convey a sense of place, and a sense of the people who inhabit that place. In this
way, visual art that interacts with story enters a narrative sphere where it must encounter the local.

My recent work has focused on family lore, stories about women named in the Old Testament, and stories from Missouri, USA. As a stranger to the Midwest, and specifically to rural Missouri in the United States, I have sought to understand my host culture and environment for the fourteen years I have lived here through exploring the folklore, music, and stories of the Ozarks. The work
you see here is specifically about my experiences in Columbia, Missouri.