For Kids
I am fascinated by critical theory, and its implications in the realms of both Contemporary Art, and Modernism. I am a video artist, illustrator, designer, painter, and sculptor, with a background in teaching art, glass blowing, and art materials research. I have a B.F.A. in studio art with an emphasis on sculpture from the College of Arts and letters at Eastern Washington University.
My artwork addresses a multiplicity of personal and social issues, ranging from subjects as rich as sexuality, adaptation, and political discourse. By forming visual narratives that follow my own experiences, I convey my unique view of social construction and critical theory. I embrace an ironic marriage between freedom and structure, by my synonymous interpretation of the two.
My work can illicit expressions of intelligence where it exists, often pushing boundaries. My pieces maintain a fluid view of social construction that comes from the place of my emotional survival.
I represent seeing situations in a different light, and transforming the sublime into icons that reflect the subjectivity of desire and power. The sexualizing of food, war, and grandiosity, have always functioned as a muse, to me. Gestalt psychology swims in my compositions, as if to call out to the viewer by swinging the arms of subconscious familiarity.
I often conceive and execute my work by contemplating the total volume of tasks with mindfulness, then sifting through details taxonomically by trial and error, making the same item again, and again. I make something, then I re-make it, and then I make it again.
By not holding onto what is unnecessary, or focusing too hard on one aspect of it, I allow the work to grow. For 20 years, I researched and developed construction techniques specific to Borosilicate Glass. I wrote articles, tutorials, and contributed to textbooks on the medium. The artwork style that a small group of us created became widespread, and is now practiced worldwide.
Throughout this time, I have worked to bring a conceptual and critical model to the glass world. I apply the Gestalt principles of critical theory to glass work and use glass as a material to inform the message. Glass informs people of things in its essence. Glass informs you of the delicacy or temporal nature of what I’m trying to say, but it’s only one of the ways that I create my work.
I obtained my BFA in sculpture, and oil painting, which furthered my ability to transpose technique and critical theory into diverse mediums. I stay aware of the need to become unmarried to any material. If I can not draw or paint
with efficacy, then my overall composition would suffer that limitation.
By trying new things, and overcoming failure, I am given an insight into the possibilities of form and concept that are waiting for me to cultivate and farm .
I’ve experienced both the formalities of modernism, and the open approach of post-structural, non-conceptual art. The vast rainbow of disciplines that exist between the two binaries makes for a very tasty selection of work to either accept, or reject. It’s a never-ending delicious quandary.
It is a very painful process to learn that you wasted your time doing something wrong, and that’s why I enjoy the challenge of changing directions and using different materials to more efficiently say things. I always strive to learn the ways and means that higher standards in fine art require.
I seek fellow collaborators who will inspire me with their artistic acumen, design sense, and sharing of the magic of community in the arts around us.
