My work is a reflection of our state of being. It responds to our need to be seen. Through abstract compositions, I create visual representations of our universal human emotions. I use brushstrokes, drawn lines, layers of paint, and recognizable forms to represent us. I show how external forces surround our inner selves and, through paint, convey these emotions. I use encaustic, oil, and acrylic paints to build layers.  I incorporate marks with oil pastels, spray paint, and markers to convey immediacy and intensity.  My paintings give room and a place to express what cannot be formulated into words. In my experience, it is a struggle to take up space and to be valued when I show up as myself.  I create a connection to this collective experience that is both unique to you and universal to us.    

This series of paintings uses ballests to anchor the space and are acted upon by the rest of the composition.

Perspective, a grounding point, a place of identity that both spews and clarifies.  It is a common experience that behaves like a kaleidoscope from our vantage point.  It is full of nuance and color, and can turn fearfully black and white.  We strive to understand the complexity and reach common ground.  We should delight in the way our experience, identity, and our roots color our view,  We turn from our spot in each direction, and as we overlap there is a collective experience. To appreciate the not only that commonality but the intricate differences and individual truths.  At once matching and reflecting, contrasting and deflecting and all the while highlights being human. 

This series of work is a response to pandemic fatigue and finding myself longing for space. I use a visual language of cloches, propellers, and sails to express the contradicting emotions of feeling both safe and trapped. I felt the need to take up space and hold space for others. I wanted to escape/travel and experience new surroundings and also enjoy this new expanse of time with those that I love. I longed for solitude and with that felt guilt. I didn’t want to feel contained, I wanted to be heard. I express all of this with the objects pushing against the composition, and bold colors outside my comfort zone. I let under-painting show through with the use of washes of color, marks with oil pastel and charcoal that express movement and immediacy. Encaustics were a natural choice using varying surface texture and the innate translucency the wax allows, I could express the complications of what I was feeling through the medium itself.

In my work I utilize the house form to represent a persona.  This series of paintings explore the deconstruction of my usual house form.  Through gestural mark making, dynamic composition, and a vibrant palette I intend to connect the viewer to the situations I am creating.  I want to play with tension, ease, movement, and layered emotion.  While the house can represent safety, solidarity and security this past year has complicated all of these identities.  This work addresses the complex and dynamic feelings wrapped around the sense of home.