Statement

 

 

Through painting, printmaking, textiles and sculpture I build layers of stories. At the forefront is the story of the artist whose hand is evident in each of the blunt carvings of the woodblock and the paint brush strokes. The materials I choose have a definite physicality to them and reflect a tactile and sensual interaction. There is a dialogue between this corporeal and physical relationship with the art materials and the way people experience their environment through work and play.

 

The imagery in my work  reflects history and community and the way they are tied together through time and space. Particularly, I explore the stories that are  handed down from one generation to the next, like invisible threads that connect people through the retelling these stories morph into something larger than life. I play with the line that separates what is considered traditional or modern, past or present by incorporating old photographs and classic materials such as quilting and oil paint.  These techniques allow the images and objects created to be simultaneously old and new, the same way communities and the natural world are built upon the past, but are continually evolving.  

The action of weaving, reconstructing, and building very literally with materials, figuratively with narrative, and abstractly through the viewer is the driving force behind my multi-media process. Humans are constantly and simultaneously creating and destroying. This non-linear cycle of progression is reflected in the way I cut, rearrange, and put back together images and material.  In this very basic way, we are similar to nature: it  destroys and renews, adapts and changes.