OVERVIEW

The process of making art is part of my daily practice that often involves personal reflection. I have an intense interest in creating hand-made objects as well as investigating my family’s story. 

As I reflect on these ideas, my grandmother is a central focus – she was in The Women’s Army Corps and spent her life sewing and knitting for herself and others. When her hands no longer worked, I remember sitting with her in my early twenties as I learned to knit and sew. When she passed in 2009, I kept those tools and patterns from her life of making.  

My tools may be different now — whether it's a computer, drawing materials, thread and fabric, yarn, or clay, I always look to include elements that bring me back to a simpler time. Even in my digital work, I incorporate human, hand-made qualities.

Personal Map of Art Education is an embroidery piece created on a dishcloth that incorporates quotations that I collected over one semester in my art education class. Each quote or phrase has importance relating to my journey as an art educator.

Architectural Quilts explores decorative elements of historical architecture as charcoal drawings. These drawings were photocopied and collaged in a half-triangle quilt pattern and then drawn back into with charcoal and acrylic paint to create an intense architectural quilt of patterns on a large scale. 

The series of ceramic pieces are more experimental and focus on the process and tie back to family history. We live on my husband’s family farm which is over 100 years old. Many of his grandparent’s items were left behind for us to discover. My husband’s grandmother was a prolific maker of doilies; such a beautiful art form. I dipped each cotton doily in porcelain slip and let them dry. When fired, the doily burned out leaving a delicate representation of life. I used cardboard egg cartons to make molds of the unique structures and let these burn out as well. During this time, I also explored the creation of other domestic items such as hand-built spoons and bowls.