Artist Statement
for a statement specific to the recent collage work, click here
Making art gives me something to do with my thoughts.
I regularly spend time in reflection about my experiences or about states of mind in which I find myself. I give these reflective thoughts form as artworks. The process of creating the artworks extends my examination of the conditions of my consciousness and how I encounter the world. Sometimes my self-scrutiny is critical or uncertain; sometimes questioning my own pattern of thinking is necessary for knowing how I feel or whether or not I understand an idea. Making art is a way of making my thoughts visible; however, my art does not attempt to be narrative. I’m not interested in clarity of representation; clarity would feel like an oversimplification.
The works I create are responses to my efforts of paying attention to aspects of my experience that suggest that the aesthetic can be entangled with the normal. I work with abstraction in paintings, prints, and in handmade books because the process of distilling an object, image, experience, or event down to essential shapes or forms can only happen when I have softened my focus on the world and sought to hold on to some quality of the experience that denies realistic representation. In printmaking, the monotype with stencil process requires significant planning while still allowing spontaneity and responsiveness during the printing process. Color, texture, and layering are important to me; they support the emotive nature of my work. In my collage work I rely on associative thinking and aesthetic cues as I collect and assemble images. In the hope that my abstract productions will resonate with viewers, I create compositions that are suggestive, and I use titles that are evocative.
Elliot Eisner describes that, “the work of art is both a product and a means through which we make ourselves.” And, as I have spent time creating and then considering my work over the years, I find that the statement feels true.
It is not only that I am making art; the art is also making me.
I regularly spend time in reflection about my experiences or about states of mind in which I find myself. I give these reflective thoughts form as artworks. The process of creating the artworks extends my examination of the conditions of my consciousness and how I encounter the world. Sometimes my self-scrutiny is critical or uncertain; sometimes questioning my own pattern of thinking is necessary for knowing how I feel or whether or not I understand an idea. Making art is a way of making my thoughts visible; however, my art does not attempt to be narrative. I’m not interested in clarity of representation; clarity would feel like an oversimplification.
The works I create are responses to my efforts of paying attention to aspects of my experience that suggest that the aesthetic can be entangled with the normal. I work with abstraction in paintings, prints, and in handmade books because the process of distilling an object, image, experience, or event down to essential shapes or forms can only happen when I have softened my focus on the world and sought to hold on to some quality of the experience that denies realistic representation. In printmaking, the monotype with stencil process requires significant planning while still allowing spontaneity and responsiveness during the printing process. Color, texture, and layering are important to me; they support the emotive nature of my work. In my collage work I rely on associative thinking and aesthetic cues as I collect and assemble images. In the hope that my abstract productions will resonate with viewers, I create compositions that are suggestive, and I use titles that are evocative.
Elliot Eisner describes that, “the work of art is both a product and a means through which we make ourselves.” And, as I have spent time creating and then considering my work over the years, I find that the statement feels true.
It is not only that I am making art; the art is also making me.