2023-CURRENTLY

Over the last few months I’ve been taking on some corporate commissions in addition to partnering with a new gallery. I’ve enjoyed becoming more familiar with that world, while still being the face of my own brand. Currently my studio practice is focused on exploring connection through color theory and experimentation.

Maybe as a result of having a young daughter, I’ve been letting myself play more with my creativity, which has led to a hobby of upcycling vintage quilts into coats and clothing. While not what you might think of as “fine art”, I’ve always seen fashion as an art form. I think the way we dress is an act of communication and an exchange of energy.

2022

I’ve begun working on the Total Woman series, inspired by the relationships I share with the females in my life and the role women have played in my growth, both good and bad. Exploring femininity through art is not new, but it’s an area where I personally have needed to look inward for a long time. Anticipating children in the near future has been a catalyst for confronting my mental climate and hang-ups left unresolved with myself through therapy and self-reflection. The title of this series comes from the 1974 book by evangelical Christian, Marabel Morgan. My mom’s friends- some of the strongest, most progressive women I know- ironically gifted me this book at my wedding shower. I felt it fitting to share this title for this series since no woman is totally herself, but rather an amalgamation of women that came before her, experiences across her lifetime, and all the many ways we choose to reveal or guard our female energy.

Throughout this series you’ll find wallpaper from my childhood home, richly textured hues, and recycled fabric as markers of emotions, experiences, and the false positivity of nostalgia. This will be an ongoing series that I will continue as I welcome my first child into my life this year. I have no doubt she’ll be the female that teaches me the most of all.

2020-2021

My work from this time explores tension through contrast and graphic mark-making paired with various textiles, physically layered on top, to incorporate a tactile sensation into the two dimensional piece. Informed by my nursing practice during a global pandemic, I’m realizing new depth and movement in my compositions as I walk the line between healthcare provider and tired citizen. Moved by a greater understanding of myself juxtaposed against increasing confusion with the world at large, these works represent my dedication to personal wellbeing and push forward toward happiness.

2017-2019

My work from this time explores the soft, sustaining excitement of contentedness and genuine comfort that accompanies the times of life when everything is just fine. I find these lengths of existence to be among the most interesting for their seemingly “in-between” quality, yet in reality the majority of our life is spent not in the peaks or valleys, but somewhere in the middle. While they’re not marked by life-affirming memories, I hold these languid stretches so dear for the quiet warmth that accompanies simplicity.

The Raw Umber and Yellow Ochre used in this work was purchased at an estate sale I was exploring while visiting my family back home. This paint was old, and well loved by its previous owner, but I could tell by his annotations on the tubes that he was a hobby model maker during his “in-between” times. When things were calm in life, he found gentle elation in the exploration of a new passion. To some, these activities read as mundane, but to this stranger and me they are the enveloping of comfort.

Fiber

2017- present

Teaching myself macramé and hand weaving to decompress after nursing shifts in the ICU, I developed a deep appreciation for the meditative quality of repetitive movements. I loved surrounding myself with the products of my contentment, but I wanted something more accessible to share with customers. This led to the creation of a line of statement jewelry made predominantly out of fiber. Challenging myself to make pieces unlike anything I’d seen on the market, I also wanted to keep everything easy to wear and inclusive to the largest audience possible. This means using things like lightweight fiber materials, magnetic clasps, and adjustable knots. These ensure that you can put these pieces on without the help of others, making them popular with sufferers of arthritis and women on the go, but also adding versatility to styling options.

My commitment to accessible jewelry isn’t always easy as materials for a new art form can be difficult to source and few, if any, demonstrations exist. But this restriction has strengthened my artistic practice and become a valuable facet of my brand. My hope is that when wearing my pieces, you feel strong and appreciated, knowing that you’ve chosen to do yourself a kindness, even on a seemingly ordinary day. Let it serve as a reminder that there’s no weakness in feeling beautiful and you have to care for yourself before you can care for others.

While I’m not currently working with fiber jewelry, I’ve remained active with fiber art through corporate commissions for the 1 Hotels group at their newest locations in Toronto and San Francisco.

Bite My Tongue

Late 2018

There is a dichotomy between thought and speech, emotion and projection, feeling and telling. Racing thoughts, ruminating notions, and uncertain actions occupy the same infinite space as a lexicon of social mores. The innumerable thoughts that surge through our minds are sifted down through a screen of what is acceptable, attractive, or unobjectionable, until a carefully curated silhouette is projected. Bite My Tongue is a visual abstraction of reticent self-criticisms, beliefs undeclared, and retorts silenced by an apprehensive mind. Take a look below to glimpse the multitude of thoughts bouncing around an anxious mind, while struggling to maintain a pristine exterior that plays nice with others. In a world short on candor and over saturated with internet flattery, don't you wonder what others really think?

Connections

Early 2018

These pieces are conversations, passing glances, lifetimes, and love affairs. Color choices manifested from the ecstasy, rage, shame, and desire that span the human condition. Obscured by haze of intense emotions, we allow ourselves to be changed by the relationships we inhabit, for better and worse, as our actions ripple out to effect those beyond our locus of control. This collection is a cumulative assemblage of a year's work in hospice and  my study of grief, loss, romance, reminiscence, and the unending ways they move us. Without drawing close attention to this shift, we stifle the opportunity to expand our collective consciousness as ever-evolving emotional beings. To cease growth is to begin to perish.