I lived the first ten years of my life on a tobacco farm in the smallest county in North Carolina. It was through my rural beginnings that I was encouraged to “see” as an artist. From a very young age I was taught to be a keen observer, noticing things that most people overlooked. Playing in the broomstraw field or watching chickens scratch in the sand were the tactile and visual experiences that presented me with a parade of textures and patterns. This same basis of observation is at the core of my sculpture practice today. Working with parts of overlooked materials and ideas, my instinct guides the process.

My studio practice is my nourishment. I think by doing, acting, constantly working with my hands, examining ideas and materials simultaneously. Recently I have also been experimenting with interactive performance work. This push brings me outside of the studio in the final stages of the work and introduces a whole new set of variables. Instead of working with static forms within my control, the public is erratic and surprising. Encouraging a different kind of flexibility, I am now exploring a dual practice. Harnessing my penchant for solitary studio work in my sculptural forms, working in public performance provides a dynamic counterpoint.

My most current work focuses on women’s experiences. The subject matter, relating to women’s regimens and personal events, is the catalyst for the creation of my work. They are the products of my own interpretations and excerpts of imagined situations, ideas and forms that are broken down and reconstituted into singular objects or moments. The impetus for creating the work may not be blatant at its completion; many times the processes that have taken place abstract the overtly recognizable yet leave clues of its origin behind. Using ideas and imagery from internal human anatomy, cosmetics, fertility products, and historical gender roles, I take facets of the forms and beliefs associated with these entities and extract the fundamental, unearth the painful, relish in the critical. I am still in the beginning stages of articulating my relationship with feminism, working to determine how I fit into its progressions.

Using ideas and imagery from internal human anatomy, cosmetics, fertility products, and historical gender roles, I take facets of the forms and beliefs associated with these entities and extract the fundamental, unearth the painful, relish in the critical. The use of coatings, colors, and coverings in my work references the products and byproducts of contraception and beautification. The clear, glassy coatings and frothy finishes suggest the crèmes and gels of a regimen, whether that be facial toner or anti aging crème, spermicidal gel or lubricant.

My older work, skeletal steel forms and small mixed media sculptures, were driven by material investigation and a more formalistic approach. Combining the need to explore and push the steel/twine combination with a drive to create relationships between the steel forms, different types of material manipulation came into play. From a hair-like curtain to woven vessel forms, the twine shaped the steel forms by adding flesh to the bones. As the steel sculptures continued their development they grew larger and more complex, eventually evolving into installations. The installations encouraged me to think more about altering space and the viewer’s personal interaction with the work, leading me into a more performative direction.