Welcome to Prairie & Peaks Art
How Prairie & Peaks began
I’ll be blunt. I spent half my life “in the closet” when it comes to creating art. I got an M.A. in art history instead of catching up on studio courses and going for the M.F.A. I then got a scholarship for historical garment reconstruction in Germany, only to be convinced to start a Ph.D. on the theory, not practice, of sewing. When that proved to be disappointing, I did a full 180 and became a technical translator in Kiel. While working near Tromsø in 2023, I ordered some acrylic paints, brushes, and panels on a lark and painted a clumpy portrait of a mountain across the fjord….
Worth saving
What do you think: Is it worth modifying our lifestyles to save endangered landscapes like glaciers and prairies? My vote is a clear yes, which is why my work aims to show the beauty of arid and arctic regions that are threatened as a result of climate change. They are not the only ones, of course, but they are the ones I have lived in and near. Thus, they are the zones I have seen change in recent years, and those changes are pretty grim.
Like all humans, I have contributed to climate change, so I’m not pointing fingers. Instead, I aim to show people the beauty of the world as I have come to see it through my experiences in Norway and Colorado in hopes that they will agree that these areas are worth protecting. After all, without a thriving natural world, there is no human world.
Classical nature
Like nature, classical music has been an important aspect of my life and influences my visual art. I have synesthesia and see what I hear, which is why I have decided to start painting what I call “classical nature”, landscapes that represent how I see certain pieces of classical music. Also like nature, I believe classical music is worth preserving for future generations. You can find out why by reading more about my interpretations of piano, cello, and orchestral pieces on my project page, Beethoven and Brushes.
