In my installations, paintings, and sculptures I create alternative landscapes that embody the craziness of motherhood and environmental chaos. In paint or repurposed items my works look as if they are simultaneously growing and decaying.
I began my career as a painter before branching out into installation and sculpture. My floral landscapes drip and wilt, while punctuated with color and areas of growth. Although I record my observations of dried flowers and landscapes I also leave a lot to chance. At times I place paintings on the floor, allowing the paint to be thin and fluid. Other times I work on them upside down, seeking out abstract form. I go back and forth between my desire to make the imagery more life-like and then to deconstruct it. Ultimately the paintings feel finished when there is the right mix of goodness on the canvas with an honest portrayal of the beautiful and ugliness in life.
My sculptural works take discarded items from my house, community and town transfer station. The mix of old kids clothes, paint globs, toys and rags, incorporated with other natural elements, are repurposed into natural forms. They express the weight of raising children in environmental disorder, while attempting to maintain a sense of self and balance. Referencing the overuse of tuff and the mental load that women carry around, piles of trash take on a second, organic life.
As a member of the national Mothers Out Front environmental group where I volunteer at my local swap shed and run our chapter’s Instagram, I find inspiration and a multitude of stories through what’s left behind: a round mirror, a red guitar, or plastic antlers, all spark ideas for sculptural forms.
The compositions and colors in the various media are often in conversation with each other. I bring my sensibility as a painter into all of my works. I work through the mess of life to find order in chaos and beauty in the reality of imperfection.
