The Blue Roots collection came on the heels of a series I began last year called Collected Marvels, Louisiana Roots. In Collected Marvels I paint fantastical vessels with patterns collected from far-away travels with Louisiana-native plants sprouting out of them. It’s a visual musing on travel, collection of experience, growth, change— and, at the same time, an acknowledgement that where we’re from, our roots, remain firmly planted.
In Blue Roots, the core concept remains the same. The patterns are collected and foreign; the plants are native and familiar. When I began the series, I painted the vessels in shades of blue, with patterns from traditional Turkish Iznik pottery. As I was painting, I was thinking a lot about the state of things in Louisiana: the poverty, the oil companies’ free rein, the racism, the homelessness, the environmental catastrophes. I was thinking about how you can love the place you’re from, but it can still make you feel blue.
I named the series Blue Roots after those first blue vessels and the feelings I had while I was painting them. Later— here, for instance— I shifted into other colors. But the blue feeling remains, and so these remain titled: Blue Roots.
Size : 22x30” paper size; framed to 27x34”
