We create order and routine in our lives. We organize as a way of creating structure so we can feel in control. We start off with the best of intentions, with everything in line and in order, then life intrudes. One thing nudges the other and things never go as we planned.

I am searching for a delicate balance in my work; one that portrays my search for harmony in chaos. I am interested in a balance of simplicity versus complexity; control versus non-control; chaos versus harmony; and of absence versus presence. I set up these relationships but can’t foresee exactly how they will end up. This consonance and dissonance creates a tension that, as in music; may be slight or glaring. Working in systems is a means of boiling down and clarifying my intentions. These systems take the form of repetition, and the process of repeating marks is at once meditative and an order in and of itself.

Although process and repetition have always been part of my work, they are now emerging as content. The marks in my paintings are no longer primarily expressive, they are becoming increasingly self-referential. Working in a systematic way I plan each step. Also incorporated into this planning is the relationship of the materials and process, and a testing of the limits of the materials.

Each of these works has a pre-existing system and the work consists of my execution of the system. For example, in Nudge, the system was arranging washers in vertical columns, left to right, including one column and row just off to the left and bottom of the paper. This column and row were then pushed one-by-one completely onto the paper before the exposed surfaces were burned with a butane torch, and the washers removed. The washers had previously been systematically sorted by size by my husband in his nut and bolt bin.

My work is becoming quietly autobiographical; the materials and processes I use surround me and tell of my life identity. I strive for perfection in my work and in the different areas of my life, but the beauty lies in the imperfections; in the flaws. Through my use of systems, order, repetition, and process I explore control, balance and the dichotomy between the contemporary world and the individual. Systems imply structure and order, but when combined or countered with the methods, processes and materials I employ, it becomes apparent that as individuals and as members of contemporary society, we cannot fully be in control.