Eriu - 2014, Solo Show, Rotunda Gallery, City of Kitchener

A matron goddess, a modern personification, a daughter, a sister, a lover, a wife, a mother, a part of the land. Maybe she is real, maybe not, but her story is relatable. Her story is that of every woman. She is the namesake of special people and a special place.
Using fluid acrylic paints on paper, I have created a series of paintings about Ériu’s trips and falls, her marks and imprints upon the Earth, her growth and decline, her cycles and movements.
Often resembling a geographic convergence, my compositions start as unfiltered, aleatoric or random outlines, and finish when assemblages are revealed, when I can find balance. The process of applying colour is intuitive and breathes life into the pieces.  These paintings on paper are the studies—the beginning—of a new investigation into our inner-neolithic in an abstract style.
My influences include ecofeminism, and more specifically the paintings and scholarly works of feminists like Monica Sjöö. I wanted to explore our feminine and Neolithic roots, goddess culture and the stories of women I’ve known and lost. It excites me to find traces of the feminine in nature. There are matrilineal energies that resonate throughout the land, voices and stories that just won’t go away. The elements at the roots of our mythologies continue to exist.
This series is dedicated to my friend Erin, who fought hard, loved harder, exuded feminine energy through every pore, but now exists on a different plane. When she passed away in 2013 I felt it acutely and decided to commit my creative energies to all of our sisters alive, away, gone and arriving.