ARTIST STATEMENT

                As an artist, I have always been inextricably drawn to nature with its many colors, patterns, movements and motifs. Growing up in the Pacific Northwest exploring the outdoors during my formative years is probably responsible for this connection. I am interested in the many perspectives of the natural world and the ways that humans, as part of nature, inhabit spaces. My textural paintings seek a new way of creating and interpreting the “landscape” painting. They often take a bird’s-eye view of both real and imagined landscapes. Surface textures are created with found objects, man-made ephemera and organic materials such as sand and wax.

My most recent paintings of animals portray creatures that are on endangered lists and nearing or feared to be extinct. These paintings and collages explore how we de-value and take animal life for granted as our actions are threatening the habitats of these dwindling  species. I often think of how humans have used animal imagery since the beginning of our existence. Since cave dwelling times, we have brought the imagery of the natural world into our living spaces as decoration. The rhinoceros series which mash-up the white rhino, feared to be extinct, and various artists are founded on the story of Clara the travelling rhino. Clara was adopted after her mother was killed by hunters and ended up being exhibited across Europe in the mid eighteenth century. It is during this journey that Clara sat for many painters and the public saw this exotic creature for the first time through these paintings. Sadly, many rhino species are critically endangered and some are feared extinct. I am currently donating a portion of every purchase to help support wildlife conservation efforts by organizations such as Rhino.org and Save Pangolins.

I moved to New Orleans in 2014 to accept a generous offer by UNO to attend their MFA program and received my degree in painting and sculpture in 2017. During that time my interest in nature turned to growing concern over the exponentially growing problems perpetuated by climate change.

I fell in love with New Orleans with its fascinating history and dynamic art scene and am happy to call NOLA my home. In addition to creating art, I also like to share my love of creating with children and have been teaching in New Orleans elementary schools since 2015.