ABsENcE OF
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2023
Absence Of is a meditation on consumption. After years of collecting uniquely shaped packaging and orphaned pieces of discarded things, I decided to leap out of my comfort zone and start incorporating these objects into a new series of sculptures. Being someone who is horrified by the amount of materials humans create then discard, this body of work is focused on both reckoning with a system in which we have so little choice in how we consume and the battle to change a larger system that can feel intensely futile a lot of the time.
Some of the objects I’ve collected that are the most interesting to me are the molded plastic shells from product packaging, as well as the foam and cardboard inserts that fit inside boxes. The name for this exhibit was inspired by that hollow place—the simplified ghost of an object that once lived there—and my own reflections on the short, single purpose life of these materials, many of which are destined to be with us for generations. By assembling these pieces to form the landscapes and bodies they (or tiny parts of them) will one day inhabit, I intend to give these single use objects a second life; maybe not an ideal one, but at least enough to offset my own need to consume new materials for my art. This will most likely be the beginning of more of this kind of material making it’s way into my larger body of work—along with reclaimed fabrics and stuffing—as I rethink how and why I create. This project is still ongoing. View a gallery of completed works from this collection HERE.
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ALTERED textiles
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2023
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Altered Textiles is my working name for my continual exploration of techniques for marking and manipulating fabric. Coupled with my decades long fascination with and study of symbolism and the ways in which different cultures convey meaning through personal adornment, I am in a constantly evolving process of using these techniques to build my own language within the soft elements of my sculptures. From designs that mimic nature, to more direct use of universal pictoral elements, I plan to incorporate more of these approaches to communication throughout 2023.
This project is currently in progress. Check out the gallery of completed works HERE |
MINI SERIES
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2021-22
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While probably the most playful and upbeat works I have created thus far, my MINI series was actually born out of a time of isolation, disconnection, and deep anxiety.
I made very little art in 2020 and 2021—weighed down by the necessary sacrifices brought on by being a parent during the early stages of the COVID pandemic, combined with heightened concerns over the devolving state of empathy and shared realities in the world around me. Those life-altering times also came at a years-long turning point in my life, an era when I was reflecting deeply on the direction I had taken, why I make art, and struggling to find a way to connect my larger political and cultural interests with my creative ones. After some reflection, I sorted out what ideas best suited my aesthetic, and found other ways to tackle those that didn't. From there, I honed in on what was most important to me about art making and identified some of the ideas I wanted to promote going forward. The simplest of those things to tackle first, something that wouldn't require huge gestures and big shifts in direction, was the concept of accessibility. One of the things I dislike most about working in sculpture is the amount of labor that goes into making each piece, because in order to make a reasonable wage for my time, I have to price them fairly high. The goal with my MINI series was to make a collection of small, quirky pieces that most anyone can afford to own. Pulling on my decades of experience running a business where I created and sold screenprinted goods, I developed a loose system for making multiple unique artworks that would allow me to sell them at an affordable price. My intent in designing each sculpture was to create odd but playful microcosms, something lighthearted to share with others during a difficult and stressful time in all our lives, a little dose of visual medicine to hang on the wall. In the end, the series came to include 48 pieces, all under 5" square, the majority of which are being displayed in their new homes. View the complete series HERE. |
SMALLworks
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2021-2022
Small Works plays off of my Systems series, but rendered on a smaller scale. Each piece is meant to represent connectivity by interweaving different abstracted elements, that loosely resemble both natural and human made elements, into bundles of interdependent activity.
View the entire series HERE. |
CRYPTIC SYSTEMS
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2018-2021
Cryptic Systems was my second solo show, which took place at the Durham Arts Guild's Gallery at Golden Belt from July 30th - August 25th, 2021. The works included represented the culmination of three years worth of experimentation with soft sculpture.
By blending elements that allude to botanical, biological, mechanical, and technological forms, this body of work is a visceral reaction to living in the now. All of the systems that humans create—societal norms, laws, technologies, ways of interacting with nature—form an increasingly complex and cryptic web of interconnected relationships between our bodies, our environment, and the machines (both mechanical and societal) that we put our trust in to support us. As humans we have a natural inclination toward seeking easy solutions and black-and-white answers, and too often we find ourselves putting all our faith in those who offer them, or clinging to the familiar when radical change is what’s needed. That urge to free ourselves from complexity leaves us vulnerable and unaware much of the time, in a perpetual state of denial that may one day become our undoing. Anxiety over this disconnect looms in the background of every piece I make, while elements of my hope and optimism linger on the fringes. I am speaking in abstracted emotions for which I have trouble finding the words, translating a sense of awkwardness and unease over the future with each art work I create. View all the works included in the exhibition HERE. |
LOW RELIEF SERIES
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2018-2021
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An experimental project inspired by the look of cast ceramic tile, but made using wood, cardboard, spackle, and paint. My intent was to create both small and large lightweight works that used predominantly reclaimed materials and could be produced without access to a clay studio.
My visual intent with Series 1, and my larger piece Symbiosis, was to continue on the theme of interconnectivity and systems. The goal with Series 2 was more abstract: creating shapes that begin to evoke something real, but are actually nothing. View all the works in the series HERE |
systems series
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2018
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My Systems series focuses on the complicated and interconnected nature of individuals, society, and environment. Drawing from both my curiosity about and anxiety over those connections, these works combine feelings of unease with a search for hopefulness, rendered in the foundational artistic medium of my childhood.
View the complete series HERE. |