Statement of Practice

Prior to becoming a professional artist I taught philosophy. During that time I explored 'relationality' — the philosophical concept of how beings are connected. I examined questions that attempted to make sense of the relationship between self and other such as: Who am I and how am I connected to you, if at all? How is my existence bound to yours? My current work and practice explore these same questions.

My studio practice is heavily process oriented. Rather than beginning with a meaning for a piece, I allow it to form before listening to what it wants to mean. Though I’m curious as to what the end result will be, I allow my curiosity to build over the life of the piece. This process is deeply relational. In curating a space for the material and images to take shape, I cultivate a practice of listening and intuitive communication. In this way I am bound to the material, our respective identities formed and informed by the other.

The work swims in the relationship between the material and immaterial, between what is real and what is imagined. Through the combination of natural materials (tree stumps, sticks, wool, and moss) and humanmade materials (plaster, twine, stoneware) I extend to the viewer the opportunity to experience the material in a way that exists within their own context. In other words, the completed forms are an extension of my interest in relationality—While the viewer may see something, be it joy or sadness, that does not mean I necessarily intended it. The interpretation is co-creative.