Much of my artwork explores ideas of place and home. This piece was influenced by a conversation about picnics that I had with students, while living and teaching in St. Louis in 2013. I am originally from a rural farming community in Kansas, and to me, picnics are something of necessity because they allow farmers more time in the fields—only needing to pause their work briefly for a lunch brought to them by their families. However, in the city, picnics were an occasional, fun weekend activity. It is these differences that inspired the construction of a gently sloping surface that mimics the unfurling of a blanket before a picnic. The use of artificial turf suggests that the earth is being lifted, as well as revealing something underneath that relates to the location of the piece. The viewer is invited to sit on the “blanket” and perhaps consider the place in which he or she exists or to long for a place that is more like home.
