statement

My art practice focuses on storytelling and internal structures, by nurturing bits of my personal identity, memories, and magical narratives. I hold onto my childhood fascinations for collecting, exploring, and puzzle games, while continuing to grow into my contemporary interests of gender and therapeutic functionality of art. I love using fantasy themes as a method to help guide the abstract confusions of “real life.”

I find myself depending on the accumulation and curation of little libraries, which contain found and made symbols— acquired through physical object collection and careful observation. These collections have been many things over many years. Sometimes they are three-ring binders full of bookmarked pages, and sometimes they are trays full of knick knacks. These encyclopedic references serve as anchors, languages, and immersive environments to dive into. They are my own personal treasures… something I can revel in the total whimsy of, like I Spy, Dragonlogy, and the Renaissance Festival.

An equal force to these collections are the energies which bring life and significance to them. A story is only a collection of words without the imagination performing its narrative. When I play with my collections I try feeling my emotions just as they are, whether they are profoundly deep or just plain silly. To evaluate these spectrums of emotional significance provides me more perspective and acceptance regarding the inevitable loss of control when “the viewer” “views.” It’s a vulnerable position to have others perceive your efforts to understand the wonder and terror of being alive. There is something beautiful about that entering someone else’s little library, with their own feelings moving through it. The potential of those connections we can make together grants me the ability to feel both more human and more like a magical fey spirit all at once.