Painting
Mixed media mural installation commissioned by Facebook Open Arts for a building in Bellevue, WA.
This artwork was inspired by natural landscapes, especially the Cascade and Olympic mountain ranges that can be seen from windows on the east and west sides of the building. Additional inspiration came from a previous monotype print series I made several years ago that included a simple repeating geometric design that I sourced from a traditional Karuk cooking basket. The Karuk word for cooking basket is tharámpuukrav, which literally means: “cooking soup in.” To create this mixed media mural, I followed a process similar to my printmaking. I started by painting layers of various organic shapes on the wall, color by color, working lightest to darkest. The painted vertical lines and zigzags, along with the triangles, were added last, just like the hand-cut stencils I usually create for my prints. I see the geometric shapes acting as a human element within the landscape, with the repeating felt stripes and beadwork referencing our various natural human rhythms such as heartbeats, breathing, speaking and walking.