Statement 2023

I am a multidisciplinary teaching artist from Philadelphia, living in Baltimore by way of Minneapolis. Working in handcrafts, including sewing, loom knitting, and printmaking, with a background in jewelry, dioramas and bronze casting I love things that are small, intimate , and personal. My audience is children, present and former. 

  Statement 2016
In my work I join memories and concepts of craft to create something new.  Often my work is playful and sweet, but everything I make uses through lines of my own history and ideas from my past to explore the work and where history intersects with it.   I use miniatures, multiples, diorama, light, and installation to present concepts of how folk art, folk craft, and folk tales reflect the cultures that are a part of us all.
 Using my family history in crafts (my paternal grandmother built doll houses, and my maternal grandfather was a puppeteer), I am discovering the way objects and the narratives they hold can be an influential part of my practice. My work is influenced by traditional and decorative arts from the late 19th and early 20th century. I find inspiration in the Dadaist and Surrealist movements, as well as more contemporary diorama and collection based artists (like Mark Dion and Tanaka Tatsuya). My object based sculptures employ nostalgia and compels in the viewer to explore the work further. 
Working in small scale has an intimacy that draws the viewer in making the piece appear more precious.  My work can be held and protected, but has a sense of permanence and stability. All of my pieces are tied together by ideas of memory and preservation, whether through documentation and collection, or the repurpose of a discarded antique becoming something new. 
Additionally, by using many small moments and pieces, I make larger scale sculptures, which are often the scale of my own body. These works command space and attention by using contrasts of light and shadow I invite the viewer to explore and create their own narratives of the objects. Throughout all of my work I am creating space to evoke memory and emotion, to create a bond between the viewer and the pieces.