Wind Maps, The Gallery at UTA, perforated and embossed vellum, 9′ x 9′, 2012

I made this piece my first semester of graduate school at The University of Texas at Arlington. I remember my mentor art teacher (Cindy Hurt) telling me that graduate school was “pretty much heaven,” and she was right. Getting to be completely focused on spending all your time making art, with plenty of knowledgeable people around to advise and critique is such a rare and wonderful opportunity. When I made this piece, I was just beginning to explore the idea of wind as a metaphor for overpowering change in our lives – in my case, losing my hearing. I took wind maps of places of particular meaning to me, like Texas and Tennessee, and translated them into drawings made by piercing sheets of semi-transparent vellum. Each map was spread out over a number of separate pieces of vellum and they were assembled into one display using monofilament. The ambient movement of air in the gallery was enough to keep the sheets in constant movement. It was an attractive piece and represented an honest attempt to begin to nibble around the edges of a very big subject, but I never felt 100% satisfied and happy with it. Looking at it more objectively now, with the benefit of time, the style is a bit subdued for me and I think it was a little too much in my head and not enough in my gut, if that makes sense.