This cemetery-based work includes paintings, works on paper and glass sculpture. The abstracted lines in the work are actually rubbings of the exterior shapes of grave stones, rather than the text that identifies the deceased.

To make the oil paintings, sized canvas is draped over graves and the edges of the fabric-draped stones are rubbed with oil pastel. Back in the studio, a layer of oil paint is applied and and wiped off, revealing the image which it appears a bit like developing a film photograph. The headstones chosen range from the poignant to the intriguing to the everyday. Human connections to each other either by manner of death, employment, place of residence, place of burial are explored. One painting records the outlines of the headstones of local farmers who died in the 18th Century and another outlines the graves of food service workers. The titles of the paintings tell reveal their story. Some titles are Neighbors on the Same Road, Area Murders Woven Together, Union Soldiers and People with the Same Name.

In the glass heart-shaped sculpture, the texture of the glass’s surface is derived from graves of people who were voted “Best Looking” in old high school yearbooks at the local historical society. The work references the now ubiquitous heart-shaped graves, the popularity of the former high school students and our present use of hearts to denote popular appeal on social media- in particular the importance of collecting hearts on Instagram for artists. The house-shaped sculpture is similarly derived from peoples’ graves who once lived on the same road 50 years ago as determined by census records. The lightning bold records the tombs of people killed by lightning near the ocean.