Sleuth

Digital Print on Aluminum

70x65cm

2015

I made this piece from merging all of the photographic studies I took of Cheyenne Mountain Zoo's Grizzly Bears, Digger and Tucker. The image was then altered in Illustrator and Photoshop. Bears in a group are called a sleuth because the only time they congregate is when they are investigating something. My father was obsessed with genealogy and investigating his past. I often wonder if he was lonely, if he was looking for others like him.

Vein

Digital Print on Aluminum

20x24cm

2015

The original photograph of this crow was taken at the Grampian Mountain National Park in Australia just as it was taking off from a branch. When I inversed the colors, the image reminded me of a CT scan taken of veins. This gave me the idea of the crow (Morrigan) being like a sickness. This inspired me to start seeing the bird as an infection of my fathers ideology that made him ill, and despair.

Stained

Graphite, Watercolour, and Ink on Stonehenge

51x73cm

2015

The first and only portrait where I actually use my fathers face. In this piece I started working with the stained imagery, where I was working with the idea of ideology staining his true self. The Style was influenced by the work of Carne Griffiths

Blood from the Sky

Digital Print on Aluminum

63x73cm

2016

This image uses a Zuni bear fetish to represent the pure essence of my father. His despair turns him to death, which flies above him staining his being. The fetish is invisible except for where the inky mass touches it.

Looking back on this piece from 2022, I realize that I have engaged in cultural appropriation with this piece. I acknowledge that, while it was not my intention, I took a specific artwork from a marginalized culture and integrated into my own work, and in doing so assumed ownership of that piece. I apologize for this lack of respect, and this piece will no longer be publicly shown, or available to be purchased.

I will not however remove it from my portfolio, as it is being used to show my development as artist both personally and professionally.

Effigy

3D Printed ABS Plastic and Steel

20x25x20cm

2017

This sculpture was inspired the effigies in Westminster Abbey. This was the start of the transition in the body of work where I started to look at my father's ideology through his eyes and to see its wider connections. The sculpture displayed face up, shows my father in a state of repose, with the emblem of death proudly displayed on his forehead.

Yule Tide Dagger

Lost ABS cast Bronze, Cherrywood, 1075 carbon steel

47x9cm

2017

I made this as a Christmas present for my mother. I wanted to give her something useful based off the memory of my father. She loves daggers, and was embarking on a new journey in her life. I decided on a dagger inspired by Celtic designs. Daggers often symbolizes courage in combat, and the design harked back to old tales where a hero was given a powerful item to help them on their quest. In a way, my father was still being useful to his wife, one of his great desires in life.

Idol

3D Printed ABS Plastic, Brass, Copper, and Leather

20x25x27cm

2017

In this sculpture I wanted to create an idealized view of my father. The Bear is white to symbolize its pure form, and he wears his ideology proudly as armour to protect him from hardship.

Last Gift

Graphite, Watercolour, Coloured Pencil, and Ink on Stonehenge

51x73cm

2019

This piece began the transition to the final stage of the body of work. In this piece the Raven is taking on more of her true form, as a goddess representing an inevitable part of life, its end. There is no judgment for me or my father on what she is, and represents the hope I have that my father's beliefs gave him comfort at the end of his life as the Morrigan takes him away.

Blown Away

Digital Print on Aluminium

47x24cm

2019

This piece was the first piece to show the resolution I came to for this body of work. In this piece we see a view of death as just a fact, not as something evil or good, but just as something that is and is inevitable. Now Macha strolls through the wilderness randomly picking dandelions to blow away, in this case my father. It is not malicious, or beatific. It is our perceptions that colour the way we see death, but it is neutral, taking “the just and the unjust” without prejudice. We have to find our own motivation to live, and make do with the time we have.