Now Showing: I MUST GO

I am so excited to announce this solo show! Now through October 31, 2017 there are fourteen pieces on display at the Fairfield University Bookstore - Downtown.

 Since 1873, when John Muir penned “the mountains are calling, and I must go…” in a letter to his sister, the phrase has been repurposed by expert adventurers and daydreamers alike to express the undeniable pull and majesty of the outdoors. But Muir’s words were more than a response to a siren song. He felt great responsibility to observe, understand, and preserve our natural world.

In May 2017 I visited Glacier National Park and, while I grew uphiking and skiing around White Mountains and the Appalachians, the enormity of the Rocky Mountains was like nothing I had ever witnessed. The scale alone made it easy for me to find deeper appreciation for Muir’s experience - we hardly dipped a toe into the park and I felt a deep compulsion to see more, to learn more, to understand more, and to do more.

This summer, Glacier National Park was scorched by wildfires, including a twenty-square-mile blaze that claimed wildlife, acreage, and historic structures within the park - a harsh reminder of the fragility and impermanence of our natural resources.

The experience led to a shift in how I perceived the world around me, and I paid closer attention not only when I visited Lake Winnipesaukee later that summer, but also in my own backyard. In the quintessential suburb we call home, there is a small park that I visit with my daughter. In the park is a small, polluted pond that, despite being slicked with runoff, is home to ducks and geese that my daughter loves to visit. On one visit in early June, I saw a bird we hadn’t seen before - a green heron. We saw another, and quickly realized that the pair had nested and were sitting on eggs. It’s rare to see a pair of green heron in this area, especially in such a populated and busy park. We watched the heron family grow all summer, picking up the garbage we found in the park, telling curious passers-by about the birds, and feeling same sense of appreciation that we found in Glacier. And so, yes, the mountains are calling and I must go. But also, I must go to the lakes to our north and the sound to our south, and to the little park in our neighborhood - to observe, to learn, and to preserve the world around us.