Global Warnings: Works from the 1980’s and Now

Portland Jewish Museum  Portland, Maine 2019

Artist Statement:

At the time the paintings and drawings were executed I was living in Brunswick, Maine. I often went to the Arctic Museum at Bowdoin College to view the artifacts of the Peary expedition to the Arctic. I became intrigued by the mystery and craft involved in the creation of everyday objects used by the indigenous populations. Objects such as boats, fishing implements, and everyday items have the anthropomorphic qualities that were of great interest to me at that time and continue to intrigue me.  

This body of work came at a time when my interests as stated above were very much influenced by anthropomorphism: human/animal relationships and how we as humans in different realms make relationships with animals based on our cultural and spiritual histories.  I made these works near the time of the disastrous effects of the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Prince William Sound, Alaska in 1989. I, like many others, was outraged by this ecological disaster, but at the time the signals of climate change were not so charged in my mind as they are today.

As I look back at this work I now realize the importance of these ‘story-book’ like images of human/animal creatures afloat in boats or huddled on icy landscapes. I now think they were a foretelling of a situation that is dire today.

The more recent works, “Afloat” a series of dimensional ‘boats’ and puppets are a continuation of my study of the artifacts and spirit world of the Arctic region. As so aptly stated in Inua: Spirit World of the Bering Eskimo:

“The ability of men and animals to transform themselves into other beings, while always retaining their ‘inuas’ results in an unpredictable world in which one cannot be sure of the true identity of any given creature.”

What or who are the boats? What or who are the passengers?