Artist Statement

My current body of work explores themes of memory and the experience of navigating the world as a female. Working across disciplines in painting and ceramics allows me to explore these themes through different material processes, expanding how I can express and process different feelings and parts of myself.

The intention behind the paintings in this series is to create accumulations of shells that are representative of inner landscapes. Like fortresses, built brick by brick, we are formed over time by the experiences and surroundings that continuously shape us. These imposing lodgments are reactions to the expectations and personal experiences of femininity and the traumas and disruptions that I encounter as a woman in our culture.

Having grown up in Florida, I have many memories of spending time playing in the sand and collecting shells. The theme of memory manifests in these paintings as accumulated “souvenirs” which are representative of the memories we attach to them. The choice to use empty shells, which often serve as mementos collected over time, is a perfect metaphor for the amassing of experiences that shape each of us and continue to do so till the day we die. Each shell is unique and beautiful, but shells are fundamentally hard, protective outer layers, and are what’s left over from a being that was once living. I repurpose what remains to give these intangible experiences a corporeal form.

The large format painted accumulations of shells are intended to feel like towering structures, allowing the viewer to walk amongst them and even picture themselves contained within them. When arranging these compositions, I stack the shells to create imposing forms, protective of their new inhabitants. The accumulations dominate their given space, sitting center stage, like something of significance that is almost monumental. Using limited palettes of desaturated colors and wisps of bright light which place them in psychological spaces rather than representational landscapes.  Working to create a set of rules of my own helps to describe what this space looks and feels like when painting. I vary the application of paint in thin veils and opaque layers, use alternative light sources, and leave moments of ambiguity that act almost like camouflage.

My ceramics work exists on the fringes of these paintings, as fragments of the monuments, neither existing without the other. Taking inspiration from the surfaces and shapes of the shells, I use my fingers to add textures and patterns to stoneware clay to create vessels that resemble broken pieces of these natural armors. I use layered glazes to create variation and movement, giving age and story to the fragmented pieces. When conceptualizing these vessels, I’m interested in the line where functionality begins to be challenged.