Artist Statement

These paintings came out of my love of cosmology, nature and indigenous creation myths. When I look at the sky, I can’t help but think of Carl Sagan reminding us that we came from the stars and that we will go back to the stars. In my homeland of Mexico, I learned of the ancient sites and how they are aligned to stars and constellations. The term, archeoastronomy, a combination of archaeology and astronomy refers to the study of megalithic sites in alignment with celestial bodies, was introduced in 1968. In my own mythology, stars have begun a new conversation with Earth.

For me, this new conversation between Earth and the Cosmos has opened up an awareness between dimensions, in the same way that ancient megaliths aligned to constellations initiated a conversation. Modern physics informs us that we live in a universe with at least 12 dimensions. With the new James Webb telescope, we are seeing our universe as we have never been able to see it before.

My paintings, Star Charts, combine nature, sacred geometry, star alignments, and physics to illustrate my exploration of this conversation between dimensions. It has been a wonderful landscape to visit!

The digital drawings are part of a series, Arbol de la Vida (Tree of Life), which combines photographs of fireworks and my glass work. The work is concerned with LIGHT—light, as a vehicle for spirit, and light as a vehicle for awareness. The images illustrate different stages of chaos and beauty. Many spiritual traditions speak of the Tree of Life as drawing light from the heavens with its branches, and spreading it throughout the earth through its roots. 

Works by Louise Pennebaker act as a meditation on the duality that exists between the communal need for order and social agreements, and the inevitable need to test and reject the same principles that are holding that community together. Two things can be true at once: we need rules and we need to break rules. 

Making From Breaking includes layered collages and oil paintings. The cowgirl is the muse of this body of work, and from the artist’s perspective, embodies a fully realized feminine and a fully realized masculine. She is not “either/or”, but is “both/and” and acts as the messenger of the artist’s thesis: two things can be true at once.

This series draws inspiration from postmodern techniques of appropriation and deconstruction to reflect the confusing and disjointed cultural discourse we are currently experiencing. While the work does allude to an apocalyptic moment, it also is whimsical and has a sense of humor, using playful table-scapes with unexpected movement, and familiar western scenes that arouse the collective mythology of “being Texan”. In breaking, you can feel a sense of hope, a sense of fun. Making From Breaking does not condone or condemn order or disorder, but reminds us to question and pay attention to what we are making, while we are breaking.