IMAGINED GARDENS

I spent a lot of time daydreaming in my childhood. 

Lying on my back, I was enveloped by the grasses and wildflowers of the meadow behind my home. Time moved at a slower pace, stretching out in long afternoons for contemplating the natural treasures which surrounded me. I acquired a vocabulary of flowers, from simple daisies and violets to the complexities of jewel weed and Queen Anne’s lace. 

At that point in my life, I was unaware of the generations of writers, artists and photographers inspired by these fields. Only much later did I learn of the work of Thoreau, Singer Sargent, J Alden Weir, Mary Oliver, and Eliot Porter who had found poetry in similar landscapes.

Today, I can get lost in the intricacy of dandelion heads gone to seed, or light streaming through the petals of buttercups. My work explores the wild flora of my native New England as I collect specimens. Through a series of layered scans, I create fantastical “imagined gardens”, in defiance of seasons and microclimates. I find these roadside natives to have an exuberant beauty and grace often lacking in their more cultivated companions, and admire their visual fragility which masks a surprising hardiness. As the built environment encroaches upon open space, and climate change threatens the diversity of our native species, I find it compelling to look closely and bear witness to the glory and resilience of this humble botany before it disappears under more pavement.