Meet the Artist

ARTIST’S STATEMENT

I create artistic commentary on the current zeitgeist by employing sculpture, ceramics, and paint to create accessible works that distill complex ideas so they are relatable and accessible to everyone.

My work is often initially read as whimsical, but after some time getting closer, people find that it is wistful and melancholic. This is both innate and intentional: I strive to find relatable, non-threatening ways to communicate my narratives. This makes the work approachable and deceptively playful, while underneath lay stories that are so dark, they can be hard to share directly.

I am a person who has experienced ‘otherness’ for most of her life—starting as an impoverished child with an invisible disability, then deepening when I later came out as queer, and again when I was gender dysphoric. These “uniquenesses” were doubly confronting to my family, who were active members in a pseudo-Christian cult for most of my teens and twenties. Learning to mask, hide, and unveil oneself with great care became part of my natural movements through the world. Much of my own identity was developed behind a high-achieving, affable façade—but this has also allowed me to walk amongst the ‘normal’ folk safely, and to sometimes even influence their own narratives. Gently, gently, with sorrowful beauty, I shape new thoughts and open new gateways for these observers.

As I’ve aged in this female-assigned body, I have observed our world through feminine eyes and an aging female body. The fact that I (often secretly) have walked the line between the gendered worlds has made me an astute and sensitive critic of gender, femininity, vulnerability, and power. My battle with endometriosis has made womanhood a central conversation in my life and in my work.

To create work that expresses my struggles, grief, and experiences means to lead with vulnerability; each piece depicts something of me, and begs the question, “This is my reality; can you relate?” For those who abide by the zeitgeist and roles of our culture, their answer is a blank stare. But for those who walk in empathy, or in conflicting otherness themselves…this work resonates. The soft shell of the work allows both types of viewers to enjoy the pieces regardless.