ARTIST'S STATEMENT

I was drawn to collage by the endless possibilities of repurposing paper. My collages draw from fragments of my recent drawings, mark-making, and original inked prints, as well as from the flood of visual information on paper flowing into our lives every day.

Exposed to textiles from an early age through my family’s fabric store, I am drawn to varieties of colors and patterns, and am inspired to investigate juxtapositions and repetitions of color, line, and shape.

In exploring the tension of opposites, harmonies, and repetition, I uncover and make space for depth, an inner congruency, and/or conversation among the elements. Relying on intuition, experimentation, and the spirit of play to surprise and delight, my art-making process is one of risk-taking, discovery, and growth. And connection with my authentic self: through learning, expanding, and discovering my visual languages and vocabulary, I express and reveal parts of myself previously unknown to me.

With my layered mixed-media paintings, I incorporate charcoal, pencil, and crayon. I then add layers of paint and often collage, sometimes concealing, sometimes revealing what’s underneath. The possibilities and properties of paint are allowing me to expand my visual language and dive deeper into expressing a range of feelings and emotions. With my first collages made from cut paper and imagery not of my own making — and wanting to put more of myself into my work — I turned to recent drawings, prints, and marks. Adding painting into the mix has me experience a connection with artists throughout time and history, back to the lineage of the first cave painters. I find using my hands, brushes, and other tools to apply paint to be a visceral experience, different from cutting and pasting collage elements. When I incorporate both paint and collage in a work, it is like speaking more than one language, that is, holding more than one, sometimes seemingly contradictory, idea at the same time. This turns out to be yet another juxtaposition, and, in my experience, a good skill to have in life as well as art.