How did you get started as an artist?
I’ve loved creating for as long as I can remember. As a child my mom was always doing crafts with me, and as soon as I could hold a pencil in my hand I was sketching everything I could think of. Being an artist is the dream I've always had and have never let go of. I consider myself to be a multimedia artist who finds my voice through sculptures and paintings.
What themes does your work involve?
Although my work is not limited to any one idea or material, and moves with many experiences and internal conflicts, I mainly create work that explores themes of midwest landscapes and femininity. Some may define the presentation of my work as magic realist, surrealist or contemporary.
I also use my body as a vessel and an inspiration to contemplate my femininity and the roles I was raised into
What is your source of inspiration?
I work heavily with midwestern environments and landscapes. I find a lot of my inspiration in oak savannas and dense parks. I question what the relationships within our forests say about humanity. And in spare time on warm days I find comfort in reflecting below great canopies of leaves. Though I jump from sculpture to acrylic painting much of the work I create around landscapes bleeds from my paint brush in countless shades and decisions. The child within me that once couldn’t fathom recreating such an externally beautiful world paints with that same awe.
I also use my body as a vessel and an inspiration to contemplate my femininity and the roles I was raised into. By sculpting, distorting and manipulating found objects and sculptural materials, I dissect and disassemble societal ideals and expectations that come with the role of feminine presentation in western culture. I use the term femininity loosely, as it is broad and complex. My work focuses on more personal matters within the subject.
In whole I find the intersection of objectification and exploitation within both themes a major driving force within my practice. I intend for my work to capture great beauty layered with great turmoil.
By sculpting, distorting and manipulating found objects and sculptural materials, I dissect and disassemble societal ideals and expectations that come with the role of feminine presentation in western culture
Tell us more about your piece Inner Oak Savanna.
In this particular piece I consider the mist in a cold oak savanna. A beautiful layered environment much like the place inside my mind, where dense grasses appear to be soft. Lovely from a distance, but hidden and lost behind walls of fog that muddle reality. I've always been drawn to the extensiveness of landscapes and forests. I was curious to see how a foggy savanna could be made into a dollhouse size. Much like a doll house I wanted to use as many different materials as I could to project the feeling of a real landscape, like faux fur for the softness of long grass, wire for the twists of branches, and scratched plexiglass for the blur of fog.
