PUBLIC INSTALLATIONS

Be A Bridge:

Bath-Haverhill Covered Bridge

2022

Oils on Stretched Canvas, 24"x36"

Piermont Village School, Piermont, NH

Built in 1829, the Bath-Haverhill Covered Bridge is the oldest covered bridge in the United States. It was built with the cooperation and funding of both towns. The care, intention and engineering techniques with which it was built have enabled its longevity, and the construction has withstood several floods, and even arson. Today it continues to be an invitation for connection between two groups of people. Heralded as a valued part of our heritage, people from all over the United States seek out this New Hampshire treasure.

Today, we can choose to create relational bridges within our community. We can live in a posture that provides an invitation to join in civil discourse and unity rather than division. When we create these relationships with respect, sensitivity and intention, we too, will stand the test of time and adversity.

A Long Term Investment: Lady Slippers

2020

Oils on stretched canvas, 18"x24"

Richard W. Black Community Center, Hanover, NH

Native lady slipper orchids were chosen to represent that community is a long term investment. Lady slippers take 10-17 years to go from seed to blossom. The seeds are extremely tiny, consisting of only a few cells. When those seeds are given the right environment, conditions and time, they begin to grow. That growth is very slow, but eventually, they blossom into one of New Hampshire’s most prized wildflowers. Similarly, community takes time. It must be tended to, cared for, fostered and given the right conditions to allow relationships to form, to allow growth in individuals and for long lasting positive influence to happen. Community must be tended to carefully. When this is done, communities grow into something stunningly beautiful.

Communal Beauty: Indian Pipe Flowers

2020

Oils on stretched canvas, 18"x24"

Richard W. Black Community Center, Hanover, NH

Indian Pipe flowers are fragile because they contain no chlorophyll for photosynthesis, but obtain nourishment from the rich organic soil. They have a symbiotic relationship with other plants and can thrive in even the deepest, darkest places in our New Hampshire forests. We have many in our community who are fragile and vulnerable among us. Many people see dark circumstances and have little hope. In a community, justice, truth, mercy and love matter. When we provide this richness, even our most vulnerable blossom and thrive. Suddenly they give value and dimension, dignity and beauty to our communities.

A Cairn of Hope: On Firescrew Mt.

2021

Oils on Stretched Canvas, 22"x28"

Canaan Elementary School, Canaan, NH

From time to time, we will all experience dark, trying circumstances. When the world seems too heavy, when there is no end in sight to our burdens, when we are at our breaking point, it is so easy to lose our way. It is easy to make poor choices, say foolish things and behave badly because of pure exhaustion or limited resources. But as a community, we can choose to seek out and care for one another. We can extend encouragement, guidance and patience, gently pulling one another back into the fold. We can calmly create time and space for people to rest and heal. We can forgive. We can gingerly resolve our differences. When we choose that posture, we become solid beacons of hope, just as this cairn points the way to weary hikers in inclement weather.

Determined Growth: Mt. Cardigan

2020

Oils on stretched canvas, 24"x36"

Enfield Village School, Enfield, NH

Great ideological divides have slashed through Mascoma Valley as a result of the pandemic and the politics of the last few years. To establish healing and unity, we must pause to see our commonalities. Though we may have vastly different perspectives, we share so much simply because we share a common community and physical space. This painting is meant to inspire us to reach down through our frustration and anger in order to find goodness in one another, just as these trees root down through the hard granite to flourish. Seeing our commonalities unites us and helps us to extend grace, mercy and goodwill to others. Just as these wind battered trees tenaciously find soft earth to grow into, we must choose to love one another with grit and determination.

Our Hearts are Bleeding: A Covid Memorial

2021

Oils on stretched canvas, 30"x40"

Mascoma Valley Regional High School, Canaan, NH

The covid-19 pandemic has affected our community and schools greatly. There have been so many needs in our lives that we have struggled to fulfill. This painting commemorates everything we have been through as a community.

While the pink bleeding hearts represent those living in the Mascoma Valley, the white bleeding hearts represent the lives lost to covid-19. Though we have been forced to physically distance ourselves from one another, the stems show we are all connected as a community, working together to overcome this adversity. The flowers were chosen because there is a feeling of mourning to them, like a teardrop falling from each. Yet, they are strong, hardy and long lasting. They have graceful lines and are resilient. May these bleeding hearts give us peace and comfort.

III Trilliums

2021

Oils on stretched canvas, 12"x12" each

Christ Redeemer Church, Hanover, NH

Trilliums are native North American lilies that grow in forests of New Hampshire. These flowers are meant to inspire us to think deeply about the character of our triune God and His relationship with us. They were inspired by the account of Jesus asking his followers to “consider the lilies of the field” in the Sermon on the Mount, as recorded in Matthew 6:25-34.