Painted animation
22:00 duration
Completed 2026
The soundtrack provided by SUNJIRŨ (a.k.a. Kadallah Burrowes) is an iteration of the programmatic music composition Sonosphere. The iteration featured in Cycles is a sonification of weather data at Rebecca Bird's studio on June 23rd, 2026.
Animation followed naturally from observational painting. I sat in the back yard every day painting the buds on a cherry branch, then compiled the sequence into painted stop action. It is different from a photographed movie in that each moment is made through close human attention: I take time apart and reassemble it manually.
In the original story of Cinderella , the magic is her secret relationship to nature. Nuts transform into the things she needs and small creatures help her toward her apotheosis of romance. Out of whatever corrupt materials are at hand my work is a substitute body to propitiate that antagonist, the happy ending. Friendship Pagoda is an old fashioned firework, a cardboard disk that spins, shoots flames, explodes upwards into a tower, and then burns out.
A handmade piece of time offers a respite from an overwhelming environment of reflecting surfaces. It brings attention to processes of organic life besides growth; decay, repair, and synthesis. My work offers a space in which to feel how we are constructing the next moment together.
Video wall: 11 x 45 feet
Permanent Collection Seattle Tacoma International Airport
Completed 2026