Philosophy

My current work is an exploration of sensory experience created through material play, collection, and intuitive modes of thinking. It is driven by a speculative curiosity about consciousness and perception. The work highlights liminal space between the physical world and the ephemeral, representation and abstraction, and the placement of the self within these systems. Emotional and physical responses arise while viewing the work, drawing awareness to thresholds in the layers of information. A dislocation of the self is brought about by arousing sensations in the body through color, form, material, texture, and size. The body becomes the eye, stimulated in a place between perceiving and experiencing.

Experimentation and collecting are the foundation of my studio methodology. I collect visual images and recall upon personal experience from nature, science, art history, and intuitive memory that then coincide with material play. The visual data is mixed with the playful chemistry of materials and the objective quickly becomes subjective. The act of discovering materials and their possibilities by combining, erasing, and mixing like an alchemist leads to sets of visual solutions. The resulting experimental forms direct a sensory experience to share with the viewer.

Tactility in seeing is extremely important in the work. The senses give rise to bodily balance, apprehension of movement and position, and an awareness of the body’s interior.  The intense physical appeal to our bodies from outer movement, pattern, rhythm, balance, color, and surface quality is paramount. An awakening of the senses and rise of emotions elicit the viewer to question their knowledge of the world through the body. Questioning is grounded in the liminality of the viewer’s experience, characterized by ambiguity, openness, and disorientation. The work excites imagination and has the ability to allow for personal reflection, which can lead to new perspectives in an awareness of the self and consciousness.