Artist Statement
Shortly after I earned my M.F.A. in painting and drawing, I became an isolated mother of three beautiful children, one of whom was diagnosed with autism. I love my children, but this was a very rough decade with little studio time and little tending to my mental health. I found myself arranging blankets, pillows, books, and toys into temporary compositions to satisfy the maker in me. There was a formalism to these arrangements, a visual vocabulary that I was beginning to use and rely on to get me through the mundane days of laundry and dishes. When I eventually started taking care of my mental health and got back to my studio again, I was a very different artist. Going back to oil paint was not an option. Domestic materials are a part of my visual vocabulary now. I use my kids’ old bedsheets and curtain scraps the same way I would use paint. My paint works in collaboration with cardboard, coffee filters, tablecloths, old jeans, curtains, and lace. My compositions tend to be quirky, offbeat, and layered. But most importantly, I see them as domestic objects. I want my work to feel like it crawled up your wall and became friends with your couch. When I show in a gallery, I often paint on the gallery wall, and I may attach my work together with yarn. I may even bring in a chair or rug that needs to partner with my painting. My work is feminist. It is warm. It is quirky and very protective of the creative power that can be found in domestic spaces that we inhabit and shape.
Artists and other things I'm looking at, reading, listening to
Night Bitch - novel
Jessica Stockholder
Amy Sillman
Phillip Guston
Galen Cheney
Katharine Bradford
my sons' drawings
IKEA catalogs and textiles
Shortly after I earned my M.F.A. in painting and drawing, I became an isolated mother of three beautiful children, one of whom was diagnosed with autism. I love my children, but this was a very rough decade with little studio time and little tending to my mental health. I found myself arranging blankets, pillows, books, and toys into temporary compositions to satisfy the maker in me. There was a formalism to these arrangements, a visual vocabulary that I was beginning to use and rely on to get me through the mundane days of laundry and dishes. When I eventually started taking care of my mental health and got back to my studio again, I was a very different artist. Going back to oil paint was not an option. Domestic materials are a part of my visual vocabulary now. I use my kids’ old bedsheets and curtain scraps the same way I would use paint. My paint works in collaboration with cardboard, coffee filters, tablecloths, old jeans, curtains, and lace. My compositions tend to be quirky, offbeat, and layered. But most importantly, I see them as domestic objects. I want my work to feel like it crawled up your wall and became friends with your couch. When I show in a gallery, I often paint on the gallery wall, and I may attach my work together with yarn. I may even bring in a chair or rug that needs to partner with my painting. My work is feminist. It is warm. It is quirky and very protective of the creative power that can be found in domestic spaces that we inhabit and shape.
Artists and other things I'm looking at, reading, listening to
Night Bitch - novel
Jessica Stockholder
Amy Sillman
Phillip Guston
Galen Cheney
Katharine Bradford
my sons' drawings
IKEA catalogs and textiles