During a 2009 artist residency in Berlin, I worked on large mixed media works of plant forms that I collected throughout the city. Additionally, in a more light-hearted approach, the fragliche Chemie (Questionable Chemistry) collages are based on observations of human courtship. They use drawings from a classic 1950’s book on how to be a good German housewife mixed with diagrams from chemistry and life science textbooks. Throughout the images, amorous microbial creatures announce their intentions with quotes from my German phrase book. A reporter from a local paper in Mönchengladbach, Germany was thrilled at my use of these drawings exclaiming her mother had given her the same book back in the 1960’s in preparation for marriage. Overall, the Schattengarten series is an attempt to explore my own internalized response to the environment and people of Berlin and Germany.