Little Houses was a series of outdoor events created while in residence at ART342 in Fort Collins, Colorado in 2011. The pieces engaged with the history of the white colonial settlement of the "Front Range". The work resulted in a number of small collages as well as in the construction of over one hundred paper houses inspired by the area's early cabins but also referencing the generic mass-produced homes of today. The houses were then set free in three outdoor art events in order to take advantage of what are, to me, the very exotic natural characteristics of the area:
Runoff: Cache la Poudre, was inspired by the flooding and subsequent relocation of the area's original fort from La Porte downriver to the current location of Fort Collins. The project also speaks to the relationship between the burden that over-settlement puts on the naturally limited water in this area, which is dependent upon runoff from the Rocky Mountains down the Cache la Poudre.
On the Prairie: Pawnee National Grasslands and Propped/Toppled/Tumbled: Fort Collins both take advantage of the excessive wind of this area, which sweeps over the prairie and through subdivisions, creating dustfunnels and tumbleweeds...or tumblehouses.
