Artist Statement
I paint to discover and imagine our intimate relationship with the environment in
an abstract form. My paintings are an intersection of memory and process. The
work births from potent encounters of the body within space: feet enveloped
in the liquid embrace of a lake, curve of the back nestled into rocks. The
progression of the work draws on sensual traces and visual structures of these
remembrances for imagery and color.
The characteristics of oil help to develop the spaces where surfaces meet.
Responding to the corporeal activity of laying paint on canvas, I activate its
abilities by scraping, expanding, mixing, and overlapping layers. Interweaving
the psychological space and materiality of paint, I search for reciprocity between
the boundaries of intimacy and immensity, self and other.
My current work is an exploration of the body, space, memory and abstract
painting. Grappling with questions of phenomenology and painting, I pursue work
that engages the viewer’s bodily senses in an abstract and colorful way.
In 2009, I received a Minnesota State Arts Board, Artist Initiative Grant and the New York Mills Regional Art Center Residency, supported by the Jerome Foundation. In 2011, my work was published in Studio Visit, a series of artist books, juried by Beth Venn, Curator of Contemporary Art at the Newark Museum. My work was also featured as a banner artist for the e-journal, access +ENGAGE, produced in collaboration with mnartists.org.
< Back to Artists
