Growth is a phenomenon that truly defines things as living beings. Plants clearly grow and yet, to a human, they seem less alive than a more emotional animal. When the rate of plant growth is compared to the busy lives we lead as humans their silent persistence is often missed. It is only with the slowing down of time that we can see the speed at which this growth happens.

By growing plants from seeds I became aware of their actual rate of movement. How their fresh meandering forms could bend and sway as they reached both toward the light and also propelled water up through their long lean stalks. Their graceful dance demonstrated to be how beautifully alive they were.

My plant creature's come from my fascination with the way living things develop over time as well as pattern, symmetry, texture and color found in nature. All of the invented "plants" I depict are in the beginning stages of their lives, their freshly hatched bodies being prompted to grow and react to their atmospheric environments. These environments influence their shape, direction and potentials, and demonstrate their individual personalities that range from solitary and lonely to menacing and aggressive.

Through these color etchings I bridge the gap between the more animate lives of animals and the slow almost stationary life of plants by exaggerating the soft energy that plants emit to bring them into a light that human beings can better relate to themselves.

BFA- Thesis - Guilford College

House sitting for the ol'professor. He trusts me with his house, his garden, his pets, his cars and most of all his studio. I must have done something right.

I suppose this was like my first mini residency. I got a hansom "stipend", few responsibilities and all the food and inspiration I could muster out of the magical garden. This was an amazing three weeks spent in North Carolina, while the professor and his curator wife vacationed in Italy.

This is a unintentional ongoing self portrait project. I often feel inwardly torn. Torn between relationships, work, family, art, life in general. When big life events have hit the fan, i have found comfort in documenting my struggle to resolve my conflicting emotions.

The act of untying and tying knots stems from the way in which relationships unravel and tighten over time.

Repeated into oblivion words/phrases become hollow holding virtually no meaning. We mock ourselves and emphasize frustration, only to realize there is slim escape from the tortuous hold of these mantras.

"Words" comes out of a combination of personal frustrations and repetitious phrases. My friends and I sometimes turn accidental repeated phrases into a game, trying to mock the given phrase in as many different ways as possible. The repetition happens so many times that phrases take on new meanings and sometimes lose meaning all together.

As we mocked ourselves, I began studying typography for my job as a chalkboard sign artist. I began to incorporate our silly game and the fonts I had been studying and by doing so found new visual ways of bring life to our tired and true phrases.

Meaning "the light" in Greek. My mom was Greek. She died from cancer on January 7th. 2011. The six months before she died were agonizing. Horrifying, really. I started making light sculptures almost immediately after the funeral. With her passing came a true acceptance and understanding of the word ephemeral.

This project challenges me to practice simplicity and letting go by embracing the ephemeral natures of light and installation.