ARTIST'S STATEMENT

Cuyahoga Fugues (2003) is the most recent manifestation of long-term investigations into the physical and metaphorical significance of water in our lives. These investigations began with the discovery of W. B. Yeat’s play, At the Hawk’s Well, which explores the curious human longing for immortality and the search for the “fountains of youth”. Subsequently, Thirst (1999) and Thirst (Elegy for Esther) of 2001 are both works in which water turns to steam and is never accessible for drinking, thus continuing the metaphorical search for immortality. A dowser's search for water in the video portion of Thirst (Elegy for Esther) extends this metaphorical search.

Oracle (anticipating Delphi) of 1999 is the first major piece which playfully investigates our timeless infatuation with the “future” and our efforts to harness the elements of nature (air, water, fire) to technology both for predicting and realizing this future.

Sitings/Sightings (2002) explores the relationship between sight and context (via site) and how our perceptions of what is “real” may change with any shift in context. In a site altered in ways not clearly obvious, the viewer struggles to name and determine what is real. Through a rear-projected video in the portal of the heating duct, the viewer searches the skies of the altered window landscape in anticipation. When "un-nameable" sightings enter the window's frame, the viewer is confronted by the need of language to validate our realities. Metaphorically, the question is also raised as to whether we can identify what we "long for" or anticipate if we cannot name it.

Cuyahoga Fugues marks a shift from work which explores the individual’s longing for immortality to a society’s collective longing for a “better” life through the settlement of communities around bodies of water. These waters are embued both with the mythic powers of the individual’s personal longings, as well as a society’s longing for prosperity through the harnessing of the waters’ powers for the development of industry and commerce. The paradox in Cuyahoga Fugues is the poignant disillusionment in the realization of the dream as its terms are redefined and waters compromised.