Artist's statement
Full Artist's statement
Since completing my MFA in 2008, I have come to view my Studio Practice as a form of wish-fulfillment. My Shakespeare Series was a way to indulge my love of literature and theater, not to mention an excuse to curl up with a number of good books. ?She Came In Through the Bathroom Window? allowed me to listen to one of my favorite Beatles songs on repeat. As a seamstress and dressmaker, the Familiars drawings began as a way actualize all the ornate designs I didn?t have time to sew for myself in real life. Self Portrait with Headband was likewise a way to linger again over the textures and patterns of a particularly satisfying stitching project. I make small landscape paintings while traveling, to document wishes that have come true, and the Dark Paintings I?m working on now are another way to emotionally spend time with the people, places, and things that I love.
The one exception is ?Cancer Tears your Life Apart,? which documents a very painful time in my family?s recent past. I planned several paintings to deal with this time period, but couldn?t continue after the first one. Outwardly, this painting may not look different from the others. The colors are bright, and the setting is surreal (although all of those things actually happened), but dwelling on these memories in the studio was too hard. The experience taught me that my painting is about joy, and sometimes is an escape from the harsh realities of life.
