About the Work
I use fabric, color, and pattern as a method to construct metaphors for our culture, lives, and bodies. I strive to create work that is honest and straight forward, and make visual statements that magnify the perfections and flaws of every-day life.
My Ideas are inspired by art-making processes, art history, and various contemporary resources. With a long-lasting affinity for textiles and associated histories, a wide range of textile traditions has been a great source of inspiration. My deep interest and research in textiles has taken me many places conceptually, and physically in the world; it will continue to lead me to places yet to be explored. The large universe of possibilities has always informed my work as an artist: current events, popular culture, life at home, observations from nature, and close encounters with art (of both the great, and not-so-great kinds).
My work recurrently alludes to issues of domesticity and every-day-life. I use traditional sewing and quilting processes to create the work. At the same time, the patterns and images convey a sense of “defiance.” Marks are made carefully, then deliberately allowed to flow/bleed/weep. The marks that “happen” in the process of making things by hand are preserved: drips, stains, blemishes, bleeding dye. Evidence of the personal mark and human body is of utmost importance. Human evidence is portrayed by a “careless” mark, (a crooked seam, a frayed edge) or indication of use (the mark left by a wet glass, stains, holes, drips, splatters, smears).
The processes I use to create my work include fabric dyeing, painting, screen-printing, fabric piecing, and quilting. Drawings also precede the start of each work. I organize shapes and patterns… cutting, piecing, painting, dyeing, and composing. The layering and juxtaposition of shapes and color on fabric allows personal narratives to emerge. I use fabric, color, and pattern to build the work while making and adjusting ideas and decisions at each step . The planned and happenstance….each day we make decisions, large and small. Likewise, each work results from the questions posed, the decisions made, and the process of making.