artist statement
Short Artist Statement
My works takes the form of painting, drawing, mixed media shadow box, and installation. Through the depiction of trees and human form, I explore concepts of wounds and healing. I investigate how wounds surface in our everyday experience, and if used as a tool for transformation, how they can be integral to healing and growth.
In my work, trees are metaphors for the human body and emotions, and the delicacy and complexity of this relationship. Like scars on our own skin, each mark on the tree describes a moment in time, and like specific events in our own lives, the tree continues to grow and change after the mark has been made. Much like humans, trees are living representations of time and the phases of life, loss, and learning. They depict not only the truth of wounds and personal loss, but also the lasting damage that can occur when life is harmed on a massive scale, such as the rape of our natural resources. Whether it is the wounding of the self or the wounding of the earth, it is the element of loss and healing in the course of the human experience that I explore in my work.
Full Artist Statement
My works takes the form of painting, drawing, mixed media shadow box, and installation. Through the depiction of trees and human form, I explore concepts of memory and the delicacy of life, human violation and devastation, and how these themes can exist both personally and collectively. I investigate how wounds surface in our everyday experience: how we respond to them, how we hide them, how we grow from them, and how they become subtle conditions of our being. If used as a tool for transformation, memory and wounds can be integral to healing and growth.
The resources I use for my work are often found, recycled, or discarded, sometimes discovered in nature, at flea markets, or even randomly on the street. The work itself becomes part of a transformative process. Using materials that already have their own past and now thrown away or considered useless, I take these objects and create a new story from them. Detail and scale are critical elements to my work. Much of my work is fragile and hand-sized, sometimes on the verge of falling apart or barely visible inside small shadow boxes. Whether I am suturing torn photographs, assembling delicate pieces of wood and text into finger size bottles, or painting tiny trees onto driftwood, I take these miniature pieces and create larger installations that fill entire spaces. With this, I play between tiny and large scales, to demonstrate the immense range of loss and healing that can occur personally, collectively, and environmentally.
My work is deeply personal and centered from my own life story, often with an environmental message about the massive devastation of landscapes or a commentary on societal issues. In my work, trees are metaphors for the human body and emotions, and the delicacy and complexity of this relationship. Like scars on our own skin, each line and mark on the tree describes a moment in time or a specific experience, and like specific events in our own lives, the tree continues to grow and change after the mark has been made. Much like humans, trees are living representations of time and the phases of life, the ebb and flow of love, loss, and learning. They depict not only the truth of wounds and personal loss, but also the irreparable damage that can occur when life is harmed for selfish reasons on a massive scale, such as the rape of our natural resources. Both human relationships and physical forests can grow from damage and destruction. Symbolically and physically, growth and transformation are possible when the wounds are nurtured and cared for. Whether it is the wounding of the self from human violation or the wounding of the earth from the deforestation of an entire landscape, it is the element of loss and healing in transformation and the course of the human experience that I explore in my work.