On a cold, snowy night in November 2018, I wandered through Laramie’s biannual Touchstone Exhibition. The ebb and flow was such that I sometimes encountered artists without an audience, and took those opportunities to ask the questions I always wonder about artwork: what are the mechanics of the process? How does it work? I was fortunate to enter into a long conversation with Ginnie Madsen about her linocut prints. Almost magically, I soon found myself in her studio learning by doing. Working with linocut on a small scale challenges me to portray my subjects more abstractly than accurately. As my natural tendency is to focus on perfection in details, I find this process incredibly liberating and it helps me to see the world with different eyes.

My artwork is inspired by time spent outside studying the natural world as a scientist and playing on the trails near my home with skis, bikes, and running shoes. I love the quiet of skiing through the woods as the snow on the trees muffles the sounds around me. I love the noise of the birds and squirrels as I run under their trees, and the glint of light reflected from a distant lake. Inspiration feels limitless…and I’m having loads of fun learning and chasing after it.