statement

My work within the past two years has progressed from an interest in location and migration into a more focused concentration on connection or disconnection within conversation, contemplation and my own anxiety and obsessiveness.  I am interested in the idea of a collective unconscious; of thoughts and ideas happening simultaneously among creatures, connecting them.  I look for humor and simplicity in the complexity of the everyday.  This can be seen in my current work that is simplistic and straightforward in both composition and paint application yet is comprised of complicated bits of obsessively made patterns.

I draw inspiration from a variety of sources including antique photographs and maps, literature and sayings, pop culture and the great American road trip.  I travel in order to connect with nature as well as with the history of our landscape.  I've found inspiration in Old West towns and driving through the Great Basin on the Loneliest Highway, contemplating where we've come from, where we are currently and where we are going.  I am inspired by natural wonders like red arches in Utah and blue holes in New Mexico as well as by man-made creations like Mt. Rushmore, the Corn Palace and gigantic Paul Bunyans.  Much of my work is a balancing act between the natural and man-made worlds, a juxtaposition of fluid lines and hard, geometric shapes.

The beings I create are anonymous due to their facelessness.  The work is not about who they are or what specifically they are saying.  It is about the possibility of the subject being any one of us and having the event of connection or conversation occur.  I see pure thought/connection as long, interweaving hairs that are constantly growing or as geometric shapes interlocking and building off of each other.  When pertaining to thought, these intricate patterns of hairs and shapes are either painstakingly hand-drawn or hand-stitched.  The act of drawing goes hand-in-hand with connection and communication.  It is human and simple, unpretentious and to the point..

bio

born:1983, Johnstown, Pennsylvania

education:

School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MFA, 2013
Montserrat College of Art, BFA, 2005