Souvenirs - exhibition at
Zeitgeist Multi-Disciplinary Arts Center, Arabi, LA
November 2024 - March 2025
Wildflowers of 7 Continents, 2024
stenciled prints, wooden beads on
paper board soaked in black tea
40 × 32”
Africa – African Daisy (blue)
Antarctica – Pearlwort (light green)
Asia – Lotus (red-violet)
Australia – Yarrow (yellow)
Europe – Red Poppy (orange-red)
North America – Wild Blue Phlox (blue-violet)
South America – Peruvian Lily / Alstromeria (turquoise)
as originally installed at Zeitgeist
The 13 birds depicted on the head and torso of this figure are the birds that inspired composer Olivier Messaien’s Catalogue d’Oiseaux, a 13-piece work for solo piano with each bird representing a French province. Messaien described wanting to not merely transcribe each bird’s song, but to capture the essence of each province – the other birds singing along, the climate, the air, the time of day.
Top row, from left: Eurasian Reed Warbler, Blue Rock Thrush
Neck: Common Buzzard
Second row: Alpine Chough, Woodlark
Third row: Rock Thrush, Western Black-Eared Warbler, Golden Oriole, Cetti’s Warbler
Bottom row: Tawny Owl, Greater Short-Toed Lark, Eurasian Curlew
Bottom right corner: Black Wheatear
also included: head feathers inspired by harpy eagle, feathers, footprints, and bones from various other birds
Catalogue d’Oiseaux, 2024
cut paper board soaked in red wine, shell beads
40 × 32”
as originally installed at Zeitgeist
Goats in Trees, 2024
linocut prints on mulberry paper,, acrylic,
metal brads on paper board
40 × 32”
Inspired by reports of the goats who climb argan trees in Morocco. This amazing sight has drawn so many tourists that goats were eventually tied to the trees so that visitors could get the photos they wanted. When we visit somewhere, how does our presence influence that place? What do we leave it with?
as originally installed at Zeitgeist
Accordion Book, 2024
woodcuts, celluloid accordion scroll fragment,
relief prints from accordion scrollwork,
acrylic paint, paper, beads, on
paper soaked in hibiscus tea
40 × 32”
The book clasp and printed areas are from my grandmother’s accordion that was beautiful, but sadly aged beyond repair. The face of this figure was inspired by Indonesian palm leaf dolls, which also were the inspiration for these five articulated figures overall. The idea for the long arm comes from a Karagiozis puppet I admired at the Center for Puppetry Arts in Atlanta, and interpreted as a tool for extraction. The book at the heart of the figure consists of four woodcuts, and can be opened and closed.
Don’t take a lava rock from the island of Hawai’i. Just don’t.
–Kumu Punahele
as originally installed at Zeitgeist
La Grande Vallée, 2024
relief prints of hand-carved letters, buttons,
on paper board soaked in chamomile tea
40 × 32”
The words on La Grande Vallée relate to quotations from artist Joan Mitchell. The inspiration is many steps removed – I have not visited the Grande Vallée, Mitchell had not visited there, but her friend, Gisèle Barreau, had spent much time there with her cousin. On his deathbed, the cousin expressed his desire to return to that childhood paradise, and his words are printed here in orange. Barreau and Mitchell both suffered intense personal losses the same week, and Mitchell was moved by Barreau’s description of La Grande Vallée in Nantes, Brittany. Joan Mitchell would go on to create a series of 21 paintings entitled La Grande Vallée, with individual works dedicated to loved ones, including her dog.
as originally installed at Zeitgeist