ENDANGERED: Fine Art & Photography Contest 2021 Submission

As an artist, I’ve always felt someone was speaking to me. It wasn't until the endangered animals started speaking to me that I started to tell folks that they were speaking to me. It introduced me to a spiritual connection in art I could powerfully relate to.

I feel it is important for me, at this time, to shout out ”Stop killing animals” through art. I truly feel that everything on earth has its specific energy and that when it all comes together, it holds the Universe together. It holds all of us as One. When we remove one of these energies, we create a hole in that perfect Universe. To simplify the image, it is like the game Jenga. So, if we keep killing off other species, this Universe will crumble, indeed.

For years I have painted and, mostly, my art was internal. Color has always been important to me. The concept of these white animals with the blackened, Raku-fired voids in them brings white and black together in a powerful dynamic: life and death in perilous balance.