LADDERS…I’ve been making little ladders every since the first one arose from my time convalescing from a broken back. Then, as now, I was “stuck” at home. Then, as now, I had to rely on the resources that I already had around me to create anything at all. That time around, barely able to stand with a back injury, I found myself wrapping thread around the junctures of plumb-branch rungs, on sticks about as tall as myself. The whole structure was rickety, like me at the time, aiming skyward. The ladder seemed to be yearning for blue skies, as I was, hunkered down in the grey grey grey of a Half Moon Bay summer. So I sewed on pieces of clouds to the spindly little rungs—experimental paper prints from a bunch of my sky photos that I’d taken over the last few years, and the first sky ladder was born.
close-up of the color-fall ladder
Fast foward to 2020, and after a season of painting, drawing and crafting DOORWAYS, I’ve found myself making ladders again—using some of those same plumb branches, which I’ve hoarded for several years—but also experimenting with what I find around me—in this case, manzanita branches.
green ladder and one of my favorite pine trees
The original ladder used paper prints of my own photos. These new 2020 ladders are hung with painted canvas pieces—bits of larger abandoned paintings, or strips that I’ve painted just for a specific ladder, and then cropped to fit. They delight me. I’m not sure yet just what all they mean, but for now, I’m going to keep making ladders…