Ragdale — 2026
LAKE FOREST, ILLINOIS
During my Ragdale Artist Residency, working alongside writers, visual artists, dancers, and musicians, I continued developing Structural Omission. I focused on how the known and the unknowable coexist on a single canvas, and how readily a viewer’s eye autocompletes an image without registering the voids that constitute 60-75% of the painted surface.
The residency deepened questions I am excited to explore.
Key Developments
- The prairie itself became a subject. Its winter sienna, charred burn surfaces, and sudden green emergence revealed transformation happening largely out of sight. The invisible process driving visible change is a direct extension of Structural Omission into landscape.
- The autocomplete problem sharpened: when a line ends abruptly or a form is interrupted, viewers rarely register the break. That perceptual blindness is no longer just a formal question. It points toward something about how we move through the world.
- The Archives of the Unspoken series clarified its stakes. These paintings address the institutional decision to render certain information unreachable. At Ragdale, they became an inevitability.
The Work
Archives of the Unspoken No. 6 – War
oil and mixed media on canvas
24 x 18 in
March 2026
She Knew What She Saw Until She Looked
oil and mixed media on canvas
40 x 24 in
March 2026
Archives of the Unspoken No. 7 – Deny
oil and mixed media on canvas
24 x 18 in
March 2026
Process
Details
Studio
Open Studio Ragdale 2026
Open Studio Ragdale 2026
Open Studio Ragdale 2026
Controlled Prairie Burn, Ragdale
Ragdale Prairie
Ragdale Sunset
Related Links
Core Paintings
Ragdale Essays
– The Reluctant Philosopher
– Ragdale Studio Notes #1: The Question that Opened the Room
– Ragdale Studio Notes #2: Coherence Before Disruption
Works Developed Post Residency
These paintings were developed after Ragdale, following biographical narrative interviews with fellow residents and reference images gathered during the residency. They extend the questions that emerged in the studio and carry the framework forward.
The Sky Held what the Ground Could Not
oil and mixed media on canvas
24 x 18 in (61 x 46 cm)
March 2026
She Continued Just the Same
oil and mixed media on canvas
24 x 18 in (61 x 46 cm)
March 2026