The majority of the time I feel like I think and learn more effectively through my art than in words. In the process of making art I understand the idea and my intent more clearly as well as find the words I need to explain it more effectively to others. In the process of creating my work I have to battle to keep up with translating what I’m doing or feeling into words. Art has always been a way for me to examine, play and explore the world around me.
This body of work is my attempt to explore, understand, process and come to terms with this feeling of “homelessness” I’ve had for the past several years [meaning that the places I once called home now lack the feelings and qualities that I associate with home]. Through this body of work I have examined and struggled to understand this process of out growing one home and creating [finding] a new one. In doing so I have examined the different types of 'home' that I have discovered; home as a place [shelter], home as the people in life that surround you and who you choose to surround yourself with and home as oneself [the body].
Over the years I have become increasingly interested in the process of making a piece, particularly deconstruction and re-construction of the material. I feel this reflects how I examine something; the tearing, cutting and sewing are evidence of my interaction and examination of the material. I choose to hand sew the material because the process is so meticulous and time consuming. It is both simultaneously methodical and therapeutic, and this growth and experience is recorded in each stitch I sew or repeating sentence I write.
My interest in material, layers, texture, line and process is reflected in some of my influences: Ellen Gallagher, Julie Mehretu, Pae White, Debra Stuckgold, Alberto Burri, Hinke Schreuder, Ingrid Calame, Piet Mondrian, Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele, De Stijl, and Crazy quilts.
I would like to thank all my professors that I have had the opportunity to take a class with [particularly the painting faculty— Scott Anderson, David Hannon, and my mentor Hannah Barnes] as well as family, friends and peers for sharing their knowledge, support, feedback, and some laughs along the way.
