Presidio Trails: Overlapping and Unfolding Narratives

My paintings are inspired by a constant immersion in a familiar place. This allows me to notice subtleties created by sunlight fog and wind, and see an otherwise familiar environment with a new perspective. For the past fifteen years I’ve been exploring the ephemeral natural elements in the coastal landscape of San Francisco.

This most recent body of work, started in 2011, is inspired by the vibrant natural, historical, and cultural landscape of the Presidio National Park. The Presidio is a place that connects people both across time periods, as well as with in a single moment of time. The network of paths and walking trails become a point of departure in forming these connections and celebrating this unique place. Some trails are smaller portions of much larger trail networks that span across the coast of California. Some other trails reveal well-worn paths that reference historical and cultural narratives. Some paths invite us to travel to specific vistas and destinations, while others invite open exploration and wandering. These trails are recorded in a series of paintings that are then hand-bound into accordion fold books. In this format they interpret the unfolding experience of travelling or wandering through the Presidio.

The more we understand a place, the more we can visualize and imagine. Through landscape painting I can dwell in a place known and valued, and continue to renew this relationship with the narratives, events, and natural immanence that the landscape holds and renders visible.