Daniel Rowan Tucker

The son of a forester and an anthropologist, I grew up in the Pacific Northwest; the places where dark evergreen forest meets the sea have always felt like home. I have always loved finding patterns and details in the world, and by the time I turned sixteen I knew that art in the visual realm was my calling.

I have had the good fortune to travel widely in Europe, West Africa, India, and Chile, as well to remote parts of Alaska while working on fishing boats. These experiences deeply impressed my imagination and informed my view of the world.  I feel blessed to have known people who spent much of their lives on the sea, or in tiny villages high in the mountains, or deep in a jungle; finding a sense of place in the Earth’s many landscapes fascinates me. 

Among my many artistic influences I count masters of the woodcut like Albrecht Durer and Katsushika Hokusai, the Celtic motifs of the Book of Kells and the Ardagh Chalice, and the bold forms and textures of Yoruba masks, and African wax-printed fabrics. The photography of Michio Hoshino and Andreas Gursky give me a sense of the vastness of our world. Even in this time of media-saturation, a single image of complex harmony has the power to stop me in my tracks. 

Cultivating the land through gardening and farming has become a second great passion in my life, balancing the abstract power of the image with the rootedness of plants and soil. A childhood in rural Oregon and Alaska, and the subsistence farming traditions that I saw firsthand in Ireland and West Africa have pulled me toward this direct connection with the Earth. 

The principles of permaculture and ecological farming as articulated by David Holmgren, Jerry Brunetti, Joel Salatin, and other modern practitioners have guided my search for a synthesis of old and new knowledge in this realm. It feeds my soul to tend a garden and see green things grow and thrive. Witnessing trees that I planted years ago now towering over my head is one of the greatest satisfactions in my life. 

I intend to offer the world images that open our eyes to the beauty of life all around us, as well as harmonious, functional landscapes where we can truly be at home. Fears and distractions multiply around us in the digital age, and a sense of doom is easy to find. But that isn’t the only possibility.  What if we focused our energy on creating a world that we truly want to live in?