Artist's Statement

I have always been fascinated with the ways people personalize and make more human their environment. I found in the Spanish based cultures of Spain, California and the American Southwest the use of natural materials, especially plants and flowers, color and texture and handmade or painted items to create a more comfortable space. Perhaps this is not surprising, given my training in Cultural Anthropology. Initially I was attracted to the use of natural materials, artifacts and color to soften the stark lines of the basic adobe type architecture. I have moved on to explore how that effort to personalize the environment creates a feeling of serenity and peace, as if the objects, nature and humans were one. More recently I have been exploring the California Missions as examples of this theme. In them I found a strong expression that ties color, artifacts and spatial relationships together. The result is a sense of serenity and calm that resonates with feeling, very much alive.

My first photograph in this body of work was taken on a trip to Spain. In the small mountain village of Grazelema, I found the local chapel of their patron saint, Nuestra Senora de Los Angeles. It was tiny and fascinating.  I could barely get the whole altar area on my ground glass. It was richly packed with color and detail. There was a pervasive sense of calm and serenity. When I returned to California, I discovered that the missions evoked a similar response. I began, to photograph within the missions, not as a documentary, but to capture and express this feeling.

Over the last decade I have been building on this foundation. With strong encouragement from Morley Baer and other friends, I have compiled this personal view of the California Missions. I hope that you will find the images as compelling as I do and that they will invoke in you that elusive sense of serenity and peace so missing from everyday life.