INQUIRY
Florida’s Peninsula
Study in Humanist Geography, Quilted Photographs
This work focuses on Florida’s ecology—both my reverence for it and my concern for its continuity. My family has been in Florida since 1768 when my Minorcan ancestors arrived in New Smyrna Beach to serve as indentured servants on Dr. Andrew Turnbull’s indigo plantation. The landscape of my home has shaped me in the same way it shapes the shoreline, live oak trees and American alligators. I am viscerally connected to the dynamics of Florida’s peninsular breeze, abundant creatures, dangerous storms and tropical flora. My intimate interactions with the natural world inform my understanding of an eternal source and ecological consciousness. My work is an expression of my love and gratitude for this relationship. I am deeply concerned for the environmental viability of my home.
Photographs taken across the state—from the Dry Tortugas, to St. Marc’s National Wildlife Refuge, to Canaveral National Seashore—are tessellated and printed on fiber to create panels for these quilts. This series explores a range of eco-Florida topics including:
Nature as mentor:
Mangroves as restorative, protective and nurturing
Monarch migration from St. Marc’s National Wildlife Refuge
Gratitude:
Nightly symphony of barred owls, cicadas, tree frogs, thunder and rain
Celebration of Meade Botanical Garden
Climatology:
Future & restorative climate solutions, like cloud brightening and afforestation
Green heron habitat that the National Audubon Society indicates could expand as the planet warms
Evanescence:
A visual representation of the geological history of the Florida peninsula, from 40 million years ago, to the present and the future
Endangered species and extinction
Perspectives on Florida, Narrative Quilt
Can you ever truly know a place? Especially a place as untame as Florida. For this phenomenology informed arts-based inquiry, current Florida residents were asked to describe their lived experience in the state. From their comments, six themes emerged that describe the underlying dynamics of their lived experience. These themes are not intended to create generalizations, but to sensitively portray complexity and promote reflection. The six emergent themes are:
Idyllic childhood
Multiculturalism (diverse groups with an awareness that unequal power exists among them)
Ecological beauty
Belonging
Environmental degradation (due to rapid and significant population growth)
Outsider perceptions of Florida
In the North Woods, Spiritual Ecology, Photographs
These photographs illustrate the wisdom of the natural world. When taking these photographs, the internal cue to capture and image is not when I see something beautiful, but when I feel the ineffable. Over time these visual data points internally synthesize and align into Nature’s guideposts. Some include:
Ferns as metaphor for an eternal source- ancient, resilient and fragile
Winter as the sabbath and the importance of rest and restoration
Trees who create and sustain life in their death
Weavers who mend, gather and fortify for their homes
Sunlight that sustains, illuminates and purifies
Roots that have the ability to communicate, nourish and protect
Spring as a season of mirabilia, profound beauty and a time to be joyful
Ritual in the Creative Process
Creativity is both magical and mysterious. This phenomenology was part of my doctoral research and examined the role ritual played in the creative process of ten working artists (visual artists, writers, dancers and musicians). The results indicate a hierarchical striation of rituals into three categories: ritual elements, qualities and purposes. This research seeks to examine metaphorical understandings of ritual in the creative process, as well as study how ritual manifests in art itself.
Teacher Identity
While teaching integrated arts education at UCF, my students created photographic self-portraits that evaluated their personal perception of their identity as a teacher versus the way they felt society viewed their professional role. I had the opportunity to present this a/r/tograhy at the National Arts Education Association Conference in Chicago (2016).
Ways of Seeing
This project was a year long process with one of my fourth grade classes, an exploration of seeing beauty in our elementary school. Each Thursday afternoon students studied the history of photography and aesthetic theories, worked in the field to capture images, learned to critique and receive feedback, and finally, create a school wide exhibition of their work. Princeton Elementary School serves the visually impaired students in Orange County, Florida, so children with visual impairments participated in this photography project with the aid of sighted guides. This project not only changed the way we all perceived our school, but it changed the way we viewed one another.
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