c o l l a b o r a t i o n s

The act of working together.

Over the years I have shared my love of plants and experience of gardening through my photography. The work titled Florilegium is a culmination of that expression. The cameraless, filmless collage process I’ve developed through this work allows me to build photographic compositions out of disparate parts, not unlike building a garden scene from many plants. I have not been limited by “botanical correctness”, feeling free to combine plants that might not grow together, altering scale or color if the composition called for it, creating a new reality.

This new series of photo collages, based upon the Florilegium series in both subject matter and process, introduces additional elements into my studies of the botanical world. Bird feathers mingle with leaves and flowers, imitating each others' forms. I have incorporated human-made objects such as metal turnings, window screen, aluminum honeycomb grid, mesh bags, that suggest and mimic organic and natural forms.

My work has always been about the forms we find all around us. I’ve been drawn equally to the natural forms of plants and to the organic shapes I see in human creations. Many of my earliest photographs are details of architecture, furniture, even plumbing fixtures. Combining human-made forms with natural forms was only a matter of time for me. In some photographs the objects and the plants mirror one another, in others they provide counterpoint for each other. In all they interact to become unified compositions. Many teachers and artists have found in nature the perfect forms upon which to base their creative efforts. Through this series of photographs I hope to contribute to that idea by suggesting that similarities abound.

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