Miscommunication and intentional obfuscation of reality lead to a misunderstanding of the world around us. A dark sense of humor emerges in my work through analyzing our use of fossil fuels in large scale collaborative installations, investigating domesticity and the female body in drawing and print, and executing painstakingly quilted asides about clickbait articles. I enjoy the contrast of labored, repetitive processes such as printmaking, hand quilting, and crochet with the immediacy of the human desire for convenience in travel, information, and entertainment.
Drawing is at the core of my artistic practice, whether it be with traditional tools such as charcoal, gesso and graphite; marks unfurled from wood with gouges; or shapes built up layer by layer with upcycled yarn made from printing scraps and re-purposed worn clothes and bedding. Combined with appliqué and quilting techniques, the multiple possibilities of the print allow for endless creation, destruction, and reconfiguration, providing flexibility in the arrangement of forms and compositions. I am taken in by the allure of layered fabrics, printed from carved birch plywood with dense black ink, cut apart, and stitched together in new structures with bright embroidery thread. I like to approach creation indirectly, with many steps along the way, so that the slow processes inform the imagery and content through labored mark-making.
Any scraps from my process are repurposed into my “Foot prints,” crocheted low-relief sculptures that embody the form of clouds/spills/storms, leaving little to no waste behind. Minimizing waste is essential to my work conceptually, as it combines an exploration feminist and family body politics with an investigation into environmental and social catastrophes. The ubiquitous shape of clouds, smoke, spill, or even ghost is a physical embodiment of the aforementioned miscommunication and fogging of the world around us, often lost in translation in a digitally-mediated and fast-paced world.