Artist Statement

I make out of curiosity: an exploration of possibility in the present moment based on everything that’s come to me before. What can I do?

In making, so many things can go “wrong” and deviate from your vision and you have to be able to accept them or start over. For me, nothing is thrown out. It’s transformed into something else 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. As a perfectionist with an anxiety disorder - this is a big deal. My art practice is an outlet in more ways than one.

Every step of creation is an opportunity for something to arise that wasn’t there before. Making art requires alternative ways of seeing. In painting, you piece together shapes. In block printing, you establish negative and positive space. In bookmaking, you look at and deeply consider parts of an “everyday” object - something typically looked at as a whole. Designing a bandana requires aesthetic considerations for different use cases. All of these materials, shapes, lines, colors, and forms have been here all along and you simply refocus. Art is queering.

I spent many years not making, spending my energy as decreed by the status quo (having a “career” which never included making art as I wasn’t “good enough”). This creative spark has always been present..just dormant; a prolonged overwintering due to perfectionism and Capitalism. The seeds were there, though, biding their time…resting..absorbing the nutrients that allowed this part of me to unfurl.

Art is a remarkable form of communication. An image/emotion/memory is in your head and you try to make it appear in someone else’s head. You can’t make for it but it’s an important realization that the life experiences of other viewers will come into play into their experience of your work. I know how magical it feels to be seen by someone else’s creation. 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. It is an incidental bonus to possibly have a hand in providing someone else with that feeling.

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. Capitalism is still a thing so money is helpful but trades or payment plans are always an option.