Artist Statement
My artwork focuses on the interconnectivity across people, places, and things. In my heart, I feel a sense of urgency that we as a species cannot sustain unless we strengthen our relationships with both human and nonhuman life. I call this area of interest "The Global Body" – which I define as the living forces that make up our lives as individuals and communities within a vibrant planet. I am striving to make visible the systems inside and outside of what we define as our "selves." The process of making art brings me closer to all kinds of life - tracing the contours of rock formations on paper with burning tools, blending the human body with branches, seeing common patterns across brain synapses, networks, river tributaries and rocks. Interestingly enough, I feel saner as a result.
For me, art is an inherently spiritual practice - it is a "window to the soul." How do we transform ourselves to become the people we seek to become? To live a life worth living? My artwork reflects journeys across multiple universes. Transformation occurs when we attend to many dimensions of our being; my art provides both form and forum for personal healing, spiritual growth, and global exploration.
In the art-making process, I often integrate imagery from waking and dream worlds. As artist William Kentridge noted, there is a "crazy logic" to following one's emerging imagery without trying to conceptualize its story or understand what is happening while making art. I often strive to make sense of the imagery afterwards as a discovery process. My goal is to weave a rich story of multiple worlds as if I am sewing together pieces of a quilt in order to see these pieces as part of a large whole. I care deeply about personal, community and global transformation. As an artist, I seek to make the invisible more visible, connect what is seemingly unconnected, and ultimately transform how we live and thrive in the world. Each of my pieces is made with my hands, often beginning with photographic images that I shoot, process and print as a foundational layer. I discovered that I did not want to spend too much time stationed by a computer screen, and instead I find myself enjoying materials such as brown paper, burning tools, and paints.
I continue to learn how to access the artistic well and create new practices to get there. I am grateful to be part of a global community that speaks this interesting language we call art. I have entered a mystery and it is infinitely exciting.
For me, art is an inherently spiritual practice - it is a "window to the soul." How do we transform ourselves to become the people we seek to become? To live a life worth living? My artwork reflects journeys across multiple universes. Transformation occurs when we attend to many dimensions of our being; my art provides both form and forum for personal healing, spiritual growth, and global exploration.
In the art-making process, I often integrate imagery from waking and dream worlds. As artist William Kentridge noted, there is a "crazy logic" to following one's emerging imagery without trying to conceptualize its story or understand what is happening while making art. I often strive to make sense of the imagery afterwards as a discovery process. My goal is to weave a rich story of multiple worlds as if I am sewing together pieces of a quilt in order to see these pieces as part of a large whole. I care deeply about personal, community and global transformation. As an artist, I seek to make the invisible more visible, connect what is seemingly unconnected, and ultimately transform how we live and thrive in the world. Each of my pieces is made with my hands, often beginning with photographic images that I shoot, process and print as a foundational layer. I discovered that I did not want to spend too much time stationed by a computer screen, and instead I find myself enjoying materials such as brown paper, burning tools, and paints.
I continue to learn how to access the artistic well and create new practices to get there. I am grateful to be part of a global community that speaks this interesting language we call art. I have entered a mystery and it is infinitely exciting.
REcent WORK
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Wild Heart (42x85)
This large piece was selected for a gallery show on "The Wild Side" at The Arc Gallery in San Francisco. It is a study of the heart. The head is composed of a giraffe's heart, with aortic valves as antlers. While a giraffe's heart can be up to 26 pounds, the human heart is only 11 ounces. The rest of the body is formed by elements of the heart, from capillaries to medical scans of blood vessels. 
Growing Joy
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 Forget Me Nots
Forget Me Nots (42x40)
I created this piece in honor of African-American women who died due to violence and police brutality. Each of these flowers contain an image of a woman, and each of their stories can be found on the Say Their Names Memorial website. In every incident, taking someone else's life should have been the last resort, not the first or second option. Fear is a powerful trigger, especially if someone has a gun in their hand. These women, like so many others, died brutally and unnecessarily in a system that targets and creates harm based on skin color. This is wrong, and we can do so much better as a society if we harness our collective will and take meaningful action. Growing Joy (36x42) It takes a village to grow a village filled with joy. If you look carefully at the center of the sunflower, there are people working together and apart. Even if we cannot see the full result with our eyes, together we can grow joy that is large, beautiful and abundant. Joy is a solo and collaborative effort in which the result is larger than each individual. Although difficult, that is my quest. I seek the experience of joy with renewed senses and deepened commitment. Joy can grow into a sunflower that brightens the world. |
 The House is on Fire
Under the Sea We are Alive
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The Interior Garden Project
This multi-year project explores the intersection between the inner world and outer landscape and how to cultivate balance in a time of “malignant normalcy” in the United States – where emotions are raw, divisions are deep, fear is palpable. Simultaneous to national politics - and amidst international layers of interdependence and complex systems - there is the vulnerable and resilient inner world of the individual, which is only separated from the physical world by a thin membrane of skin. How does one build the inner and outer skills to live and thrive in relationship to loved ones, strangers, the earth? Furthermore, how can we be strong and compassionate enough to support those who are in the margins? 
A Woman is Trying to Heal Herself
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The following four pieces were created in sequence as I found myself wading through a web of feelings and choices.
Fear is a Sentient Being (mixed media, 36x36 in) This is the first piece in the series. There are many instances in which fear has felt like a sentient being crawling out of a twisted hole just below my stomach. It is alive and can take over the entire body, overflooding the nervous system and lowering the brain’s ability to function. It is also a survival mechanism, a primal system that wakes us up so we don’t fall asleep in an emergency. Is this an emergency? The Search for Equilibrium (mixed media, 36x36 in) Deep breaths, coating the system in oxygen and an injection of hope. Fear shrinks into smaller proportion (in the center), now surrounded by a buffer of amniotic fluids and embryonic cells, a swirl of vitality and breathing inside a living membrane. There are still two fear spikes present but they cannot take over in this state of being. Choose Love (mixed media, 36x36 in) In the face of it all, this is a mindful intention to be compassionate, bring forth empathy, stay open rather than contract. Violent thoughts and fear can be overcome by choosing love – which feels better internally and can radiate outwards as a social contagion. While anger is often a useful catalyst for movement, anger turned inward or used violently can exacerbate the problem. Choose Love strives to calm the potential takeover of these forces. Balancing Forces (mixed media, 36x36 in) The forces at play are temporarily balanced and dynamic. There is acknowledgement of opposing forces – not to create polarized thinking but rather to acknowledge and find strength in both the darkness and the light as sources of creativity and strength. Individually, as systems, in our world we strive for this balance and delight in these times of harmony. Right now, my motivation as an artist is so strong and powerful that I feel like a single match in a dry forest. I could stay contained or transform my creativity into fire and wind, spreading across the forest, towards the sea. I feel both beautiful and dangerous.
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Fear is a Sentient Being
The Search for Equilibrium
Choose Love
Balancing Forces
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MORE VISUAL ART
My work is a celebration of transformation, beginning inside our bodies and growing outwards over time. I am striving to make this process visible through art: from healing wounds to rebalancing after something is lost to the mysterious process of metamorphosis.
