Artist Statement

My work is about me (you were right - I AM selfish✨).

Illustrative. Bright. Impressionistic. Messy. Alive. Observant. Imaginative. Macabre. Silly. Playful. Thrifty. Honest. Revelatory.

What can I do? How can I spend my time focusing on the present?

Creation requires alternative ways of seeing. In painting, you are piecing together shapes. In block printing, you are establishing the negative and positive spaces. These shapes, lines, colors, and forms have been here all along! Once you understand this, your world will never be the same. Art is just queering things.

Behind each piece there are leftovers - scraps of paper, ink. These will reappear later. I’m incapable of wasting materials on principle. I’ve created some of my favorite pieces based off a whim of an idea from a scrap.

Much of my work is on paper and canvas, the traditional surfaces of printmaking and painting. Some veers into craft: usable/functional art. Notebooks and bandanas are meant to be used and extremely findable at a mass market level. What does it mean for everyday items to be handmade, unique pieces…not carbon copies? You, as a human, are worth having everyday things that are beautiful. If you are privileged enough to get to choose how you spend your money, use that power to honor art, craft, and yourself.

I’m certainly not trying to make money. I create because I spent many years not making, spending my energy as decreed by the status quo (having a “career”). Capitalism is still a thing so money is helpful but trades are always an option.

Feeling a connection to someone else’s creation is a magical phenomenon. It’s usually not obvious. It’s something that speaks to you so directly, so quickly, that you don’t even realize it’s happening and why. Your brain lights up “YES” and suddenly your body is moving you to the piece. It’s one of art’s special powers. This is not why I create but it is an incidental bonus to have a hand in providing someone else with that feeling.