Artist Statement
Though I make work in a variety of media, the common thread in much of my work, especially of late, is that of interpreting what I’m experiencing in my own life in terms of body transformation, self image, relationships, and observed human behavior. I do this through installations and intuitive mixed media painting.
I use whatever techniques and materials will communicate my ideas effectively, but I am particularly drawn to manipulating and fabricating digital designs and internet-based ephemera and collecting discarded/unwanted personal effects (both material and digital) to transform them through assemblage, installation, and collage/découpage. I’m inspired by the potential these objects have to be deconstructed, reorganized and reimagined after their usual purpose is fulfilled or cut short. I use them to create installations or singular objects that speak to my personal (and often universal) experience which includes the exploration of social psychology, boundaries, behavior, acceptance, and inequality.
My intention as an artist is to create emotionally and mentally compelling work that is also visually powerful.
Like many artists, I walk the line between being concerned with how my work makes me think and how it makes me feel. I make art to consider the inner spiritual and emotional life and how it exists alongside the physical experience.
Getting personal…
I've been a seeker since childhood, earnestly studying, first medicine, then human psychology and sociology, then spiritual and religious teachings. I yearned to understand my life and answer questions about purpose, fulfillment, wholeness, and joy. Though I didn't begin to find answers to these questions until later, I knew that I was supposed was to love others by helping them. My first career was in surgical medicine, where I worked beside surgeons to help people find their health, regain lost mobility, and ease pain.
My life abruptly changed course during a three-year bout with a life-threatening illness. I already knew I loved art and teaching, but facing death caused me to reexamine my life and finally admit that I had been unsettled and unhappy for many years in medicine. I knew there was true healing to be found by other means, and I knew that if I recovered I had to leave medicine to begin anew. It wasn't an easy transition, but now I'm fully engaged in my new life and work.