Artist Statement

My work is an extension of my movement in the world. It is a processing of living within this culture, this time, this body. I keep creating in a conviction that what is not visible around us is in fact critical to who we are. Bringing the abstract of our lives – interaction, language, systems, connections – into a narrative of color and line. I see the connections we create (or sever) as tangible line and forms. I see the societal systems entangling us as embedded grids and webs. I see the languages we use as marks and letter, lines and gashes. I see the everyday unseeable as stories of who we are and how we move together. Each piece I create is a conversation, a narrative of a moment; sometimes these are my mine and sometimes they belong to others. Sometimes they are poignant, sometimes absurd. Some paintings read like a diary entry from a single day and sometimes they are a novel spanning years.

I first fell in love with printmaking in university when I went on exchange to England. The studio of presses and plates was intoxicating, challenging and where I knew I needed to be. I would end up leaving my full scholarship to VCU to stay in the UK, receiving a First Degree in Printmaking. I have never regretted that decision. Today, I bring all those skills and textures into my painting. I combine the tactile nature of intaglio with the versatility of paint, the starkness of screen printing with the flexibility of acrylic. The process of building and overlaying an etching to the treatment of a painting substrate. The resulting paintings have depth as layer after layer build into glowing stories. I paint on canvas and wood, using acrylics and mediums or oils and waxes. My current printing practice is a meditative support to my paintings, allowing time simply enjoy the color and play of the process.