The works making up the series “American Underland” are meditations on deep, geologic time and its gravitational pull on history. The works– comprising landscapes, large narrative drawings and ceramic sculptures–arise from the tangled myth and history of American land. They are attempts to reveal the crackling, animist life that exists in the rocks, trees and memories of the land. The works are meant to address the larger-than-human from an almost shamanic perspective

The motifs filling “American Underland” are the Janus head, coyotes, the Tarot and landscapes. Janus is the Roman god of doorways, of ending and beginnings. The double faced god presided over city gates marking times of war and peace. Coyote, too, has many faces. His stories are bawdy, absurd and alive with the electricity of a living landscape. The landscapes are made up of caves, fallen trees and entrances into the underworld. These are core samples into the chthonic energies rumbling beneath the ground that animate the collective unconscious of the nation.

The works pictured were exhibited at The Archer Gallery at Clark College in Vancouver, Washington from September 12, 2024 to December 20, 2024.

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