My work focuses on moments that convey a wide range of human emotion. Through examination of these private moments, I investigate contemporary issues of isolation, alienation, and anguish. In my artwork, unrecognizable landscapes and unidentifiable solitary figures grace panoramic canvases devoid of color and fine detail yielding scenes that, while rooted in reality, lend themselves to the surreal. The compositions are designed to evoke feelings of unease, as the viewer is confronted with figures experiencing raw emotion.

My work focuses on my physical connection to the earth. I translate what I see and visualize in nature into graphic shapes and patterns using textiles, fibers, and paints. Further, I interweave these materials through a variety of techniques, and I incorporate sewn lines to create compositions highlighting natural elements that depict the course of life. I employ a hands-on, low technology approach. This tactic contrasts my work as a professional graphic designer. While my professional efforts generally lack a physical connection with nature, due to digital simulations of real objects, my personal artwork allows me to step away from the insipid technology tools commonly used in today’s society.

The wearing effects of being overworked and in somewhat poor health are reflected in my paintings, ceramic work, and mixed media pieces. I use old and dilapidated materials such as window frames, instrument cases, and wood to symbolically address my physical and emotional states. I reuse items from the past that show a sense of fatigue, tattered edges, and deterioration. Like these objects I felt run down, old, and at times, useless. However, I am comforted by the idea that old objects can, with some care, regain new life. I have discovered I seek my own rejuvenation through my creativity. As a means of releasing anger and frustration toward my fading health, I create assemblages of wilted flowers, encaustic hourglass forms, and mixed media teapots. I also create clay vessels that appear to be deteriorating and encapsulate objects in encaustic medium. Items that belonged to my relatives serve as a metaphor for my genetic illnesses. Searching for answers, living in the present, and maintaining hope are things I carry with me on my artistic journey to find a sense of self worth and to overcome disease.