YOUR BRAIN ON ART - BRANCH OUT FOUNDATION, SHOWN AT CONTEMPORARY CALGARY 2019

HAND CUT MIRROR - 48” x 54”

Research into the relationship between navigation and memory inspired the creation of this piece. As a material, mirror has the potential to be transcendental; it is always in a state of flux, presenting the world unto itself rather than presenting itself. It is fluid, dynamic, and ever-evolving; like memory. Inspired by this concept, the scientists involved in the production of this work have begun to adapt Google Street View as an intervention program used to improve patients’ memories by navigating new cities in a virtual setting. It is this fascinating application of technology that has inspired the form and shape of this piece. The triangular facades mimic Google’s GPS pinpoint locations, while the undulating hills and valleys represent an unknown landscape’s topography. The work is intended to distort the viewer’s perception of surrounding space. It is meant to dissolve clarity, induce haziness and, in the end, ask the viewer to question the concept of perception.

YOUR BRAIN ON ART - BRANCH OUT FOUNDATION, 2022

HAND CUT GLASS & MIRROR, CNC XPS FOAM, OAK - 36” x 36”

Memory and the formation of it on a neurological level is an extremely personal experience many take for granted. Memories of ones past is a personal adaptation of what the true event were, it is the minds way of preserving the past. There is a beauty in this process, holding memories within ourselves as a reflection of how far we have come in our existence. Yet, this beauty becomes fragmented when neurological disease or traumatic brain injury occurs, the hippocampus becomes weak in many cases, causing an inability to store memories and recall events.

This piece speaks on the difficulties and complexities of reconstruction of memory post brain injury. The underling form holds resemblance to two colliding water ripples, yet the ripples are skewed in a way that cannot be observed in nature. The surroundings are covered with fragments of sharp and jagged glass arranged in a unique fluid abstraction, intended to unite in a soft and flowing appearence. An antiqued mirror at the calm of each ripple reflects the viewer along with a hovering candle that is burning in the reflection. Time is the main medium, much like our lives in memory. It is a piece which is predictable but still fragile, reflective and ever changing through the material of mirror, fluid and destructive.