Susan Ratcliff creating sculpture

Abstract

Artist's statement: "We should not, and to a large extent we cannot, suppress, in the name of delight, stewardship, or reverence, the initiatives by which we strengthen our command over nature." - Roberto Mangabeira Unger

As Western society is today, our "Nature" exists in a context far fetched from is origins. We seek to control it in various ways - our wilderness is national parks, we regulate ecology with controlled forest fires, and, after we have cleared thousands of ac res of trees, we create tree farms to replant the earth as we see fit. I have become somewhat infatuated with the relationship of man versus nature. Perhaps as an artist, I may take the role of "God" and cultivate a piece of nature completely controlled by my physical labor. I will look to destroy and ultimately recreate a t ree as it existed originally. This is an endeavor in looking at how trees are formed, their complete process of growth; an endeavor to return to a nature as that sublime notion that overwhelms us. So that we may come to understand them literally from the inside out, we may once again revive a nature that has collapsed from our demeaning circumstance." Susan Ratcliff