In 1994, I lived and worked in Africa as a humanitarian aid worker during war in Rwanda. At night in the mountains, a sea of stars merged with scattered campfires in the refugee camp below. I pondered the sense of connection that I felt between a lonely and hostile Earth with the distant universe above. And then I understood what art really meant. Art is a kinship; it bonds us to ideas, emotions, objects, and colors. The refugee camp is met by a billion stars holding vigil. Ernest Hemingway wrote that “the stars are my brothers”. My art explores this sense of brotherhood. And it seeks to find optimism in the natural world: insects and fish for their bright colors, celestial subjects for their splendor, blueberries for their whimsy, rivers and the ocean for their curious wandering, the Earth itself for its mystery and beauty.
