Using metalsmithing as a platform, I seek to examine themes of memory, perception, and identity. Inspired by intimate feminine forms connected to my childhood, I re-interpret patterns of lace or clusters of flowers into withering leaves or fragmented, melancholic faces. Through the repetitive, meditative process of sawing the metal, I carefully manipulate these “fetishistic” objects to create masks.
Counter(balance) I, steel, 2017, 10 x 7 x 7 inches
Counter (balance) III, steel, 2019, 9.5 x 6 x 5 inches
Counter (balance) II, steel, rust, 2018, 20 x 18 x 10 inches
Counter (balance) IV, steel, gold leaf, 2021, 12 x 11 x 8 inches
Phantasm II, powder-coated aluminum, 2017, 14 x 12 x 12 inches
Counter(veil), copper, vitreous enamel, 2017, 10 x 10 x 9 inches
Phantasm I, powder-coated aluminum, 2017, 16 x 15 x 12 inches
I am the space where I am, powder-coated aluminum, 2014, 12”x 14 x 12 inches
Armor/Amour, powder-coated aluminum, antique lace, thread, 2015, 6 x 4 x 3 feet
Darken’d Veil, powder-coated aluminum, antique lace, thread, 2015, 24 x 12 x 17 inches
This series of hand-held metal brooches melds aspects of feeling-in and pulling away. Beginning with a circle, each piece is scored and bent into various forms and sizes. They become little containers, tightly wrapped onto themselves. Hard rigid steel juxtaposes soft flexible handmade paper and thread. Slick smooth surfaces converge with ornamental patterns, organic shapes, and rusted sides. I am interested in investigating how these two opposing ideas of empathy and abstraction can be connected, can become one. I want to find the common ground between what is what is pulled away and what is felt-into. This body of work seeks a resolution between the two.
With(in) II, steel, thread, 2021, 4 x 4 x 3 inches
With(in) III, steel, thread, 2021, 2.5 x 2.5 x 2 inches
With(in) VII, steel, thread, rust, 2021, 4 x 2.5 x 3 inches
With(in) VI, steel, thread, rust, 2021, 3 x 3 x 3 inches
With(in) VIII, steel, thread, gold leaf, 2021, 4 x 3 x 2 inches
Idee Fixe 7, steel, thread, 2018, 5 x 3 x 3 inches
Idee Fixe 1-16, steel, thread, abaca, paint, rust, gold-leaf, 2018-2019, 24 x 24 inches
Idee Fixe 5, steel, hand-made paper, 2018, 4.5 x 4 x 3 inches
Idee Fixe 5, steel, hand-made paper, 2018, 4.5 x 4 x 3 inches
Idee Fixe 10, steel, 2018, 4.5 x 4 x 2 inches
Idee Fixe 10, steel, 2018, 4.5 x 4 x 2 inches
Idee Fixe 13, steel, thread, 2018, 3 x 3 x 2 inches
Idee Fixe 17, steel, 2018, 4 x 2.5 x 2.5 inches
Idee Fixe 2, steel, 2018, 3 x 3.5 x 2 inches
Idee Fixe 9, steel, 2018, 2 x 2 x 1 inches
Idee Fixe 4, steel, rust, 2018, 3 x 2 x1 inches
Comfort of the In-Between I, rust on abaca, 2019, 20 x 20 inches
Comfort of the In-Between I, rust on abaca, 2019, 20 x 20 inches
Comfort of the In-Between II, rust on abaca, 2019, 20 x 20 inches
Comfort of the In-Between II, rust on abaca, 2019, 20 x 20 inches
Comfort of the In-between III, rust on paper, 2021, 10 x 10
Counter(part) III, sympathy cards, ink on paper, 2016, 18 x 48 inches
Counter(part) II, sympathy cards, ink on paper, 2016, 18 x 48 inches
Counter(part) I, sympathy cards, ink on paper, 2016, 36 x 48 inches
antique handkerchiefs, thread, 2016-2017
For “The Loss Project” I asked friends and gallery visitors to share their thoughts, feelings, or experiences about loss. I then hand-stitched their sentiments onto antique handkerchiefs. After the project was finished I sent each individual the handkerchief with their contribution on it.
“room for new hope, love, joy, adventure”
“my friend is still here but her memories are fleeting as i breathe”
“a hole your heart learns to grow around”
“bittersweet confusion”
“smile even though you’re breaking”
“rebirth, reinvention”
“i don’t miss them, i miss doing things with them”
“cry, scream, talk”
“I don’t know if he would be proud”
“numbness”
“why”
“I remember the day frosty didn’t come home”
“it’s difficult because they died in pain and alone”
“searching”
“but in this country there is war”
“i see her loss in my son and grandchildren eyes”
“my love went into the cosmos always an astronaut circling the globe in an unknown dimension”
“keep on smilin’”
“my heart hurts”
“adaptation”
“i’ve never pictured the world without you in it now i’m forced to it hurts”
“it’s like an earthquake so sudden you can only try to recover from the aftershock rather than try to prevent it”
“Not to worry”
“disoriented”
“God’s gain”
“when i lost my mother i felt nothing for years loss is numbness”
“renewal”
“a coat from the cold”
“change empowerment”
“we never really lose in every loss we always gain a little”
“i lost myself in you”
“so sad but true i’ve found out more about my loved ones after they’re gone than when alive”
“losing a marriage to addiction meant gaining a beautiful beginning and redefining love”
“i lost my way in”
“i lost a singular person now i am plural depersonalization”
“It isn’t what happens to us misery or happiness the choice is ours”
“How do I find myself again”
“time gaped loosely around me and threatened to overwhelm me”
“i lost my way back home”
“missing my little man”
“quiet”
“perspective”
“It was only in the loss of my father that I found my adulthood”
“scared unknowing not ready not willing to die”
“Daniel was taken too soon-I was lost and still recovering forty years later”
“No matter how much time goes by it will always be there”
“intense pain”
“emptiness abbreviated with sharp pain”
“I lost my feelings towards people”
“It happens suddenly and never without warning. The hard part is accepting the loss and being strong enough to move on.”
“nothing hits harder than momma dying”
“i lost comfort and stability for the price of growth and understanding”
“loss is the worst pain to exist and we’re expected to ignore it”
“the only thing you lose is the one you can build again otherwise it’s over”
“It isn’t what happens to us that causes us to suffer, it’s what we say to ourselves about what happens.” -Pema Chadron
“i miss paxo aloyrious everyday he died at 3 years old every loss is a scar that we learn to live with”
“i have lost the opportunity to ask my parents the right questions”
“I lost trust in the one I love”
“reflect”
“i wish”
“i am 70 years old when i was 2 1/2 my father died i have always wondered if i am like him”
stop motion video, dress, dress fragments, journal entries; 2015
28 Hours (My Easter Dress) consists of four parts- a stop-motion video, my childhood dress which my mother made for me, fragments of this dress, and journal entries. These components derive from a 28-hour consecutive performance in which I took apart my Easter dress one thread at a time. I stopped for a few minutes every hour to write down my thoughts in a journal. For 28 Hours (My Easter Dress) with no distractions, no sleep, and no one to talk to, my thoughts are able to focus on the incessant tendencies of my practice. Slowly the rhythmic actions of my body peel away the immediate task at hand to reveal moments of fear, sadness, and loneliness.
used women's clothing, thread
2014
dimensions variable
