The Origin of Three Crows Studio
When I first started painting and writing, I decided to dub my small work space, "Three Crows Studio," in honor of the past which has made the present possible.
As a child, my family's kitchen played host to many an argument, (or as they liked to call them, "loud discussions") orchestrated by my mother, her twin sister (my aunt Joan) and their mother (my grandmother). The Three women were ever-present, it seems, throughout my childhood and looking back, were among the most influential people in my life. I was merely in my late teens, however, when in the short span of just five years, I attended the funerals of all three. My mother was the last to pass.
In close proximity to her grave site, I found a crow feather, perhaps in reality worn and frayed, yet in my mind's eye a perfect flight feather, ebony black, glimmering with the iridescence of purple, blue and turquoise. I gently pushed the quill into the soft earth where newly sowed grass seed had not yet sprouted and from that moment on, whenever I heard the raucous call of a crow or spotted one perched on a fence post, Mom came to mind. Oddly enough, when I am unsure of which direction to take, in times when I need her most, crows seem to appear as if by magic. And when they do, more often than not, there are three.
Artist's Statement
In order for the work to be genuine, in order to be true, an artist must work from a core of beliefs. I believe in the land and I believe in nature's innate powers to heal, teach and inspire. Our landscapes, the places where we live and visit, have an intrinsic value beyond that of providing resources to be exploited. The weather patterns, the seasonal shifts in the subtleties of color, the light and the living organisms inhabiting or traveling through these places, hold within themselves, a wisdom. I believe, to anyone exercising reverence and patience, the natural world presents openings through which the hidden sacredness of the seemingly mundane is revealed. In my work, I attempt to experience and explore these openings.
