Dialogue with Leaves

In 2018, I began experimenting with botanical prints created through the interaction of plant chemistry, paper, moisture, and heat. Leaves and flowers are collected meditatively during walks through my forest garden and the surrounding woods. After being pressed between sheets of glass for several days, the plant material is layered between sheets of paper and steamed for two hours. My process leaves behind fluid, fractal patterns and subtle botanical impressions. Using pencil, pastel, and watercolor, I then respond to these forms, drawing out the images, stories, and presences that emerge from the interplay of chance and intention.

I approach these prints much as our ancestors may have approached cave walls—not merely as surfaces for representation, but as permeable membranes between the conscious and subconscious realms. They serve as points of contact and conversation with forces larger than myself.

I understand intelligence as arising through nested collectives: the collective of my own body, the collective of intimate relationships, the collective of community, and the larger ecological collective that contains and sustains them all. These visual dialogues with botanical prints are one way I listen and interact with this greater intelligence. Through them, I explore the patterns, relationships, and mysteries that connect the inner and outer landscapes of life.