Artist Statement

When I was a child, small discarded objects that I discovered on the ground as I walked in my city neighborhood fascinated me. I was often surprised and excited by something I found, curious to know what it might be for, what one would do with it or just plain cheered up by finding something new. I was intrigued with these things without knowing their classification or use. I just appreciated the objects for their own sake. Over time I recognized my interest in open possibilities, layers of possibility and meaning available when I don’t limit function or purpose of objects. I continued to imagine possibilities.

My appreciation for such randomly presented items has encountered my strong connection with fiber. The layers I use in my fiber work correspond to my thoughts and queries about memory and identity. These layers are complex structures that are not necessarily visible in their entirety by the unaided eye. Identity is similarly complex and fraught with possibilities rather than certainties. In the same way, memory is not predetermined. I choose to include things that I encounter in my everyday, ever changing life to characterize my thinking about identity and memory as not fixed or stagnant. Contemplating the fluctuating definitions and conversations around identity, I am provoked by the beautifully aligned, messy and entangled elements of plant life and include these ingredients in my work as a way of including this aspect in my conversation.

I make sculptures using wool fleece in combination with plant matter, undigested things from my backyard compost heap and small objects that I continue to find on sidewalks and roads in my regular routes. All of these components are removed from their source. Utilizing different representational forms, I set up oppositions between the three-dimensional and flat. Scanned parts of the sculptures and images of roots and other vegetation are printed on handmade acrylic skins and stitched together in a patchwork. Digital rendering of bits of the sculptures are also displayed as prints. These oppositions resonate with others, including human made and existing in nature; modern technology and traditional methodology; and organic materials and synthetic.

Some of the objects within the work are readily identifiable, if out of context. Whatever their origin story, they are all on their way to being something else. As my child-self engaged in curiosity, I would like my viewers to do the same. I hope that much of the work will cause a viewer to wonder what it is or why things are made as they are. We are often driven to pin down, know with certainty what things are and, perhaps by extension who we are. I would like viewers to be left with unanswered questions, but to wonder at the need to know.