Artist Statement

Polyglots’ faces split at each crossroad, their tongues are many, and their eyes see all around. They are those who have moved and been moved to become another form, to multiply, to fracture, to reform or transform. Who have traveled around and multiplied. Who have walked in many shoes. Who have seen the world from many angles; through many lenses; with many eyes.

The term polyglot literally means “many-tongued.”  The concept suggests that to learn a language is to grow a new organ or muscle.  It implies that one may become physically altered by an alteration in consciousness.  When understanding consciousness in such a way, we can begin to imagine those who transfer homes, or change direction, or are stirred to make themselves anew, might grow new sensory organs for each new growth in understanding.

The polyglots are contemplations on relocation and foreignness, an exploration of the experience of knowing many worlds, of traversing many lands, of speaking with many tongues. These paintings are depictions of an elaborate elusive inner world, of split timelines, and of history passing into the contemporary and into the future. They are visual contemplations of the concept of the multiverse, portraits of those who venture outside the realm of narrative continuity.  In these paintings are mirrors, windows, and screens, all portals, thresholds, and implements of reflection. Human forms transfigure to become visions of their thoughts.

The artist, having grown up in southwestern Virginia, lived abroad for several years, moving from the deep crevices of Appalachia to the arid openness of the heat-buzzing deep South to a snowy tundra of Anatolia to a dank English Victorian mansion. The paintings and images gathered while traveling are strange and varied, and mixed into paintings prodigal with color and detail. The neon and iridescent acrylic colors of our contemporary landscape offer an enticing palette for representing the hypercolor world of visions and introspection. Venture another look into their intricacies and see that they are more than daydreams, more than fantasy, and certainly more than fact.

Having returned thus to Appalachia, the artist folds her many fingers round her brush once more and swipes another glittering bit of color onto the surface of this world.