Finland Shift, 2014

This drawing installation project was undertaken while I was a resident artist at Haihatus Art Center in Joutsa, Finland. The sprawling map of words, pieced together tile by tile, is similar to networks of text explored in other recent projects. This time, however, the text also reflects my attempts to live and work surrounded by Finnish, a complex language with a fascinating set of rules and patterns nearly impossible for me to grasp. During my month in isolated Joutsa, I made sketches and diagrams of local wildlife and architecture. I became particularly fascinated by the woods that surrounded Joutsa in every direction, and as such the forest became a recurring theme within both the text and the imagery. One version of the installation was displayed on site at Haihatus in 2013, while a second installation occurred at the Third Street Gallery in Grand Forks, ND, in 2014.