Over-Reaction: "Did you even look at the instruction manual?!!!"

Size: 40 x 20 inches

Clay, paper and acrylic on a wood panel. 2022.

The Response Series arose from a personal reaction of feeling overwhelmed and bombarded by news headlines in April 2022 that included the harrowing prospect of rapid climate change, recovery from a pandemic, unprovoked war in Ukraine, threats against democracy, the possibility of a third World War and the potentially devastating use of nuclear weaponry. This barrage forced me on an individual level to respond internally. Then the circle grew as I considered how to handle the emotions that arose in relation to these issues with my family, how to communicate with and care for friends, how to act on a larger social scale, what to do, what to say, and what not to do and what not to say. Then I saw the responses spiral out further into state, national and international responses and for the first time, considered these ever-larger response categories like tree rings, beginning with the individual response all the way to global response, emanating outward and like a stone thrown in a pond, creating a lasting ripple effect. I started to question the nature of responses on an individual, familial, social, state, national and international level. I wondered, are our responses commensurate with the urgency and severity of each act or issue with which we're faced? If they are, what does that look like physically? Artistically? It occurred to me a measured and commensurate response might create symmetry. But what happens when our responses are disproportional to the act or issue? What does an over-reaction look like physically? Artistically? What does taking no action look like physically, artistically?