Fences are used to establish boundaries. They protect and hold. They define territory and prevent mixture; keeping people/creatures in or out, belonging versus not belonging. Nations have waged war and neighbors have spilled blood over their location.

This series started with a simple bamboo fence I sketched in the National Arboretum seventeen years ago. The series continues to engage me. The series has incorporated family history (My great-great-grandfather, John Wallace Page, invented the loom woven wire fence) as well as some of the political, social and environmental issues confronting our nation; from the fence at our border to the white picket fences symbolizing the disappearing American dream of home ownership.

As structures, fences are often beautiful. Sometimes the appear menacing. The materials used are both humble and exquisite; the duties they perform, both purposeful and silly. The play of light, transparency/opacity and line are the elements that are the foundation of my fence series. Most of the works are on paper, both paintings and drawings.