Tending Time
A slab of concrete with its aggregate rock and lime, is a slice of earth’s ancient history from a time-scale that we can barely comprehend. The Knotweed plants, all around Detroit, grow at a break-neck pace that can take down a 50 year old tree in a matter of a few months. I create handmade paper pulp from plants, a deliberate and repetitive process that forces me to slow down. Neighborhoods in Detroit are contending with a new sense of time, as development that didn’t exist a decade ago is moving in and moving quickly, changing the places people have come to know.
This exhibition is exploring these different timescales through materiality and form. It is a reflection of the time I have spent at the gallery and the site that surrounds it. I engage in the act of tending as I gather materials from the site and pay attention to the forms they may become. With these works, I am honoring the energy – derived from both earthen and human efforts – that have shaped and have been shaped by this place. I want visitors to experience joy and wonder, and perhaps, to imagine a different future for how we live in our places with nature and one another.