ARTIST STATEMENT
My childhood upbringing and the nostalgia associated with the thought is something that is always on my mind. I see it in the way I wash my clothes, the colors I gravitate towards, and the recipes I know by heart; my choices and beliefs have all stemmed from those who raised me and the others that I have met along the way. Although we all see life through a unique lens, it’s a universal understanding that our lens has been shaped and morphed by those who crossed our paths from birth to present day. This idea runs through my recent work as I study how my personal philosophies are influenced by aspects of my adolescence into adulthood. Through this exploration, I have realized the importance of perspective. The art I make through an illustrative and painterly technique works through these ideas literally and figuratively. By using perspective as a distortive tool, and memory as subject matter, I am bringing together my personal experiences and emotions universally.
My artistic process begins with a pencil in hand. My concepts come from sporadic streams of consciousness, where my ideas build off of one another. I utilize mixed media to explore my concept fully; I find ways to transfer the same concept to a range of mediums, and through this process I find new perspectives of the same idea. It’s different sides of the same coin, how the texture that is created with paint and a palette knife contrasts with the careful precision of pen and ink. I use this to my advantage; with my knowledge of printmaking, fiber arts, drawing, painting, and graphic design, I am able to shift between and combine art forms. The range of mixed media inspires me to be explorative. I admire the tactile nature of fiber arts, and I take advantage of its nature to easily create patterns with bold colors. I mix my love of illustration and storytelling to create large-scale comic-like printings. The simplicity of drawing lures me in, inspired by the endless possibilities of just paper and color pencils. With the range of two dimensional mediums under my belt, I am inspired by the ability to combine techniques, as well as the decision not to.
I stow away cherished feelings of the past into my work as though they are souvenirs or memorabilia being kept safe in a glass case. The good, bad, and normal are all on display to stand as metaphorical truths. Through my illustrative and whimsical style, I connect to these themes of nostalgia with my own narrative, considering that the perspective morphs based on personal anecdotes. I admire that we all see things from different sets of eyes; no one lives the same life because our culminations of experiences are all unique.