About the Project

I created Josie in the Woods V for the Urban Art Bloom – Sun Prairie Mural Festival, in response to the festival’s Georgia O’Keeffe theme. I drew from her bold color palettes and O’Keeffe’s way of abstracting natural forms, but shifted the landscape from the New Mexico desert to the forests of Wisconsin—so central to my own life and practice. At the heart of the mural is my daughter at age five, exploring the woods with a sense of wonder. Her presence reflects both my experience as a mother and the quiet strength and introspection I admire in O’Keeffe. While honoring those connections, I stayed true to my own bold, graphic style, aiming to create something that carries a mood and invites people to sense a story—but one they can interpret in their own way. Painted during a time of political uncertainty and environmental urgency, this piece is also a personal response: a way to hold onto joy, to reconnect with nature, and to quietly remind us what’s worth protecting.

 “I had to create an equivalent for what I felt about what I was looking at – not copy it”  - Georgia O’Keeffe