Saundra McPherson

My work examines my relationship with urban and rural wild places. Series reference physical transformation in natural phenomena, and the human:nature interface. Working with the physicality and immediacy of materials, my painting practice parallels forces inherent in nature. Described as Color Field abstraction, the process involves applying and sanding 50-70 translucent, color-saturated layers. The Edge series imagines the boundary where land or water meets sky, an in-between zone of light and form. They imagine the processes shaping landscape over millennia - from the evolution of soil and the organisms that maintain it, to deposition, erosion, faulting and uplift creating land forms. The work is transforming in response to the high New Mexico desert: the plants, soil and stone of the Jemez and Sangre de Cristo mountains, the shifting Rio Grande Rift, ever changing skies and fierce light. And the undulating surface of adobe, drystone walls and acequia reflect the human imprint on the land, as these elements influence our experience of this place.