Stair Variations, Point Amour Lighthouse I

Silk fiber, giclée photographs, watercolor pencil

Portals and Stairs Series   1997-2006

This work reflects my long-standing interest in the symbolic nature of doors, window, and  stairs, what lies beyond them, and whether one chooses to go through, up, or down to another place.  With the absence of human figures in these scenes, it is the viewer who is invited to "enter" and move through the space.  It is the viewer's imagined choices and emotions that activate each piece.

The Stair Variations series continued the exploration of multiples.  With this work, I began using my own photographs of stairs taken in lighthouses in Newfoundland and Labrador.  I found that I was shooting photographs in the style of my earlier collages. I altered the photographs with stitched and woven elements, allowed them to become more dimensional, and created a new sense of movement through the arrangement of the multiple images. Working in this way, I have continued to create dreamlike shifts in reality, where stairs begin to fly, spin like amusement rides, or spiral like DNA. I invite the viewer to take these journeys, and imagine where these stairs may lead you.

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