Grand Canyon, North Rim

October 22, 2017

I gathered this trash on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon during the summer of 2016. It was one of the last pieces I made before leaving for Texas, but I still had a few finishing details to make that I did not want to rush. This was the first piece that I attempted to add a figure to and I feel that it was semi-successful! I think humans can play an important role in introducing scale to incredibly vast landscapes and I'm excited to continue to dabble. It was funny to return from the South Rim of the Grand Canyon at the end of the summer with fresh new trash and finalize this piece, almost as if the two ends of the canyon were in dialogue with each other.

Acrylic on Grand Canyon lodge menu, plastic water bottles, plastic cups, Teddy Grahams container, hair tie. 2017

I have been contemplating my relationship with art and the large amount of waste it can produce. I wanted to find ways I can validate art and its important purpose by working with recycled materials found in National Parks and other landscape environments. With 2016 having been the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service, I have especially appreciated, and been inspired by, the natural beauty that the parks offer, and found how easily we can take these precious places for granted. For each National Park I visit, I plan to gather as much trash as I can, sculpt it into a canvas, and paint the scene where the trash originated onto the trash itself. So far I have collected trash from Acadia, Rocky Mountain, Arches, Zion, Grand Canyon, Joshua Tree, Pinnacles, Channel Islands, Sequoia, Kings Canyon, Saguaro, Guadalupe Mountains, Carlsbad Caverns, Big Bend, and Petrified Forest National Parks.