Artist Statement

My work is an amalgamation of printmaking, photography, gouache/acrylic painting, ceramic, and textiles. I play with layering across all of these mediums, often starting with intuitive abstracted background colors and designs created from assembled textiles and photographs or with wet or moldable mediums. I then add subjects, additional details, and refine the “mess.” Working multidisciplinarily allows me to rapidly change up scale with pieces ranging from miniature 1”x1” paintings to 30”x 44” prints. Most of my work features a saturated polychromatic color scheme, featuring pops of magenta, lime green, aqua, and oranges. A recurring design throughout is thin line work that resembles both archaic written language and space age patterns.

My work currently falls into two series: “Jelloworld”(made up of paintings, prints, and collage) and a collection of photos of my community in all its forms. I am heavily influenced by Space Age design elements, the savory Jello Salads and other odd culinary creations from the Postwar era and the advertising that went along with them, and popular mid century shapes and colors. My “The Garden of Gelatenous Delights” (inspired by Bosch’s fantastical triptych) I depicted the 3 stages of the world before, during, and after human consumerism, propaganda, and destruction of the environment by constructing my own cityscape made up of Jello buildings, animal mutations, and both appealing and noxious colors. My photographic work is rooted in a similar way to the past, but in the history and connections between people and environments. I imagine that this work is more nostalgic in that it focuses on the maintenance of communities, especially loving ones.

My matriarchal lineage is made up of quilters, seamstresses, and textile manipulators. Textiles have always called to me in a way that feels personally expressive, as well as helps me feel connected to those who came before me. A through line of my work is connection and disconnections between generations. Looking through old photos of my grandparents and parents with their siblings, I have observed both our similarities and shared practices and actions as well as the stark differences between our worlds and times. I attempt to bridge some gaps between myself and the communities that I was raised in and have entered into and have used visuals to process my own place within them.