Second Nature Statement:

Second Nature is an acquired deeply ingrained habit or skill that has become so completely a part of you that you believe it to be instinctual and unchangeable…My art is second nature to me.  However, there are also assumptions we acquire through socialization that are second nature to us.  They are beliefs that we understand to be unshakable norms, that when challenged android bare for what they are, can change us, and change our world.

Creating art is one of the few activities we have where we are allowed to slow down, to a stop, and take a second look; to examine nature for the hours it may take to know it by looking. I enjoy immersing myself in the process of intense observation and careful looking that painting from life allows.  I also have a habit of looking at what I know and wondering if it is true, especially what I know about being an older white woman from a rural working class background.  I question myself and it has taught me to question other things, some of which I have discarded as untrue.

I often layer metaphoric meaning into the images I create. This has been especially true of those paintings inspired by concerns for, or appreciation of, the natural world and our relationship too it..

My paintings consider our place in the landscape and our relationship, as humans, to nature. The paintings explore the complex realities of the changing climate while considering of the metaphors we use to describe our relationships with each other and Nature. They shift away from the very gendered metaphor of the unselfish, all-giving Mother Nature to a less human-centered Second Nature.  This Second Nature responds to the pressure it is under without regard for humanity, much as we humans often ignore the effect of our actions on the world.

It is time to remember that humans animals are nature too.  What we do to ourselves we do to nature, what we do to the earth we do to ourselves.

You can see Helen’s full portfolio, including works that are available for purchase, here.