Artist Statement

Throughout my life, I have encountered many people who prefer to experience “nature” through the filters of society. The manicured lawn, the forest tucked safely behind the veil of a screen, the reproductions of flowers in a vase. There is an emphasis on comfort, control and order, over care. This is born from the systems our culture promotes and operates within, and which fosters the perception that we, as groups and individuals, are separate from the larger biosphere, rather than deeply and fundamentally entwined with it. I believe this separation is one of the many forces contributing to the rapidly growing climate and waste crises that threaten not only the survival of habitat and wildlife, but also humans.   

My recent work is an acknowledgment of our connection and dependence on the natural world. It is a way for me to process my reactions to the realities, pressures and privileges of living as a human and a woman in the 21st century. It is a way for me to cultivate awareness of how my body and mind exist within natural spaces and the world at large. In my paintings and drawings, I have used myself and my body as reference, combining photographic sources, observation, and sometimes materials like fabric to create the images. I have attempted to draw attention to the information our bodies allow us to receive through direct encounters, while also examining the use of the female nude within our culture. The process of taking photo references is, in itself, a practice of immersion and contact that helps me to question the way I normally interact and connect with my body and environment. Using materials like lace and yarn relate visually and physically to the repeating forms that occur within many organic structures, including human bodies. In drawings, they challenge my relationship to the photo reference, the image, and the viewer. In sculptural forms, textiles add color, body, and softness.   

In the course of my work, I hope to find new ways to explore vulnerability, transformation, and interconnection. I hope to find ways to compel the viewer to consider their own body, the significance of touch, the relationship to both cultural expectations and natural ecosystems. I hope to find ways of combining materials that are visually compelling. I hope to access that feeling of energetic potential that exists within the experience of stillness.