Catalyst 160,000

Catalyst is about anyone being a catalyst for change and evolution toward a better self. In turn making the world a better place. A transformation from one state to a different state of being. It is about the interconnection between all things, not just people. A shared experience that allows for an awakening to our place and potential in the world.

Catalyst 160,000 is the fourth project in my Catalyst series using 160,000 pieces of jute twine cut to the circumference of my hand, knotted and linked together in lengths of 100 pieces, wrapped around my hand, and placed in a grid. As a meditative performance or demonstration of tying the knots into strands, it is an installation that can continue to grow during the course of an exhibition. 

 

Catalyst 2,057,910

Catalyst is about anyone being a catalyst for change and evolution toward a better self. In turn making the world a better place. A transformation from one state to a different state of being. It is about the interconnection between all things, not just people. A shared experience that allows for an awakening to our place and potential in the world.

For Catalyst 2,057,910, the latest iteration of this installation at MSUD Center for Visual Art, I hand-cut 2,057,910 cross section circular pieces of rubber from thousands of bicycle inner tubes, counting and documenting each piece in a ledger and threaded them onto twelve-foot sections of black rope.

 

2025 Reconnect: Alumni Show, MSUD Center for Visual Art, Denver, CO

2024 Seed, BRDG Project, Denver, CO

 

Five Possible Permutations

Photographs mounted on poly-board. 52.25 x 41.5 inches

Does the idea of something serving the function of art require the presence of another? In this instance presence presented itself as activation of a space at The Philadelphia Museum of Art, patrons moving through an exhibition breezeway, moving left to right, right to left, sitting, standing, and absent.

I began investigating the museum space when a patron said, “art is not in the museum, it is the museum.” What brings a museum to life? What makes it a museum? The complicity of the people occupying it, traversing the spaces appeared paramount to defining its purpose.

 

Body Motion Drawings

The Big Draw, Arvada Center for Arts and Humanities, Arvada, CO, 2023

Accumulating Lines Away From My Body, Accumulating Lines In A Circular Motion,
Accumulating Lines Toward My Body, 2004 - 2005, Prismacolor black pencil on tracing paper with sound recordings of each session. Each drawing 150 feet in length.

Catalyst 2,000,000

Pirate Contemporary Art, Lakewood, CO, 2020-2022

Catalyst is about anyone being a catalyst for change and evolution toward a better self. In turn making the world a better place. A transformation from one state to a different state of being. It is about the interconnection between all things, not just people. A shared experience that allows for an awakening to our place and potential in the world.

Catalyst 2,000,000 is the extension of a previous installation and performance in 2018 about a repeated action intended to induce mindfulness and a meditative state. The act of making, assembling and accumulating, a type of accretion can be a path to transcendence. The subtle action of threading suggest the viewer’s personal engagement with the environments they occupy, both natural and industrial. The process of observing and introspecting completes the work as a mindful experience. I believe to effectively navigate the external world and create positive change one must be internally centered and mindful of their present situation and state of mind, this includes an empathetic perspective of how we effect everything around us. From this understanding a realization emerges about how we repeat everyday actions and should mindfully view the importance of these actions, no matter how small as contributing to the construct of our reality. For Catalyst I cut 2,000,000 cross section circular pieces of rubber from thousands of bicycle inner tubes, counting and documenting each piece in a ledger. For the performance accompanying the installation I hand-thread each piece onto sections of rope. Prints are inked strands of threaded rubber pressed onto 44x44inch pieces of paper using the weight of my body. 

Catalyst 1,542,384

Pirate Contemporary Art, Denver, CO and Naropa Institute, Boulder, CO, 2017-2018 

A performance/installation currently with 1,542,384 hand cut slices of bicycle inner tubes. During the performance or anytime after viewers are encouraged to sit and take pieces from the pile of cut tubes, count how many they remove, record the number, sign, and date the ledger. I count each slice as I cut and keep a separate record of how many slices are added. The number of slices change with each performance as viewers take pieces and I add.

Altared State (632,018)

Arapahoe Community College, Littleton, Colorado, 2015-2018
5,040 postcards, clear acetate, hanging frame, light, and sound.

5,040 key words related to the New Testament and Passion of Christ that are pin hole punched into each card. 632,018 total pin holes. Three 8x8x12 foot towers lite from inside.

Postcard: Altarpiece with Scenes of the Passion
From the Philadelphia Museum of Art, permanent collection. The altar was made in Antwerp, Southern Netherlands (modern Belgium), Europe, c. 1535. The paintings are attributed to a follower of Pieter Coecke van Aelst, Netherlandish (active in Antwerp), 1502-1550. The sculptures are attributed to the Flemish workshop of Master of the Oplinter Altarpiece.

100,001 Accrete Variation II

2003 - 2004
100,001 hand-knotted loops of jute twine measured to the length of my hand and tied together in a single strand.