"My home and work are rooted in Michigan's landscapes and the little landscapes on a kitchen table between people having dinner. My paintings are akin to visual songs or poems and in their rhythm I seek places where we've tied our threads of memory and home to the landscape. Each piece is built and carved through gradual and interwoven layers that, like paint on the side of an old house or days in a life, are in themselves little histories. Throughout my work, there are ecological and botanical interpretations of the landscapes as well as purely personal and poetic strands, each piece holds both of these aspects of understanding as companions in listening to the elemental heartbeats of places and things. Central to all of my work is a deep regard for getting to know things by spending time with them.” Cayla Tinney studied art briefly at the Cleveland Institute of Art in 2005 and completed a BA in Ecosystems Management from the University of Michigan in 2008, though she feels the heart of her education has been an upbringing in Northern Michigan and 15+ years of field work throughout the Michigan landscape she calls home. In addition to making art, she is a native landscape designer and prescribed fire pro for a contracting company out of Ann Arbor, owns and operates a native landscaping and residential stone masonry business with her husband, Lever and Wedge LLC, and works for Legacy Land Conservancy as caretaker of a preserve in SE Michigan with her family.