After graduate school, I moved from Ann Arbor to Chicago. I began looking for a job and a connection with nature amid the urban environment. As I watched stressed people in rush hour traffic fully consumed by work, I was prompted to investigate what work is and what is really important. To investigate first hand, I created work for myself doing the most basic and essential work to human survival – collecting water. Over several months, I made many trips to Lake Michigan, where I collected jars of water from using painstakingly inefficient methods that involved repeatedly walking in and out of the lake. Through this process, the contained water began to take on a new presence. In the final installation, light and recorded sounds of the collection process are contained by, and emanate from, the pedestals. Eyedropper, Teaspoon, Mouth, Cloth and Ladle vs. Lake Michigan plays with the scale of the human body in contrast to the scale of nature while referencing the beauty of our futile attempts to encapsulate the power of nature.

This project is partially supported by a Community Arts Assistance Program Grant from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, and the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency.