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my artwork is an extension of the things i experience; the things i think about, talk about, and live.
the objects, images, and installations i create begin in personal experience; however, they do not intend to
reside there. my personal references are not meant to be direct, they are meant to exist as touchstones, as
places to begin. the work is not illustrative or narrative - rather it strives to be the embodiment of an
idea. thirty-six months is a sculpture crafted from pale poplar wood and white bed linens that I had received
as a wedding gift. the piece is a thirty-six foot long carefully crafted table - one foot for every month of
my three year marriage. on the floor beneath the table, stretched from one end to the other, i have unraveled
my wedding gift bed linens thread by thread. the long narrow table makes multiple references: a gift reception
table at a wedding (now void of any gifts), the Last Supper (a betrayal), and walking a lengthy, precarious
plank (a journey with a forced ending). the bed linens reference intimacy and consummation that has come
undone - not violently, or suddenly, but quietly one thread at a time. the references for me are direct, but
for the viewer the piece merely functions as a trigger for thoughts of frustration, fragility, obsession,
and disappointment.
vitally important to the embodiment of my ideas are my connections to materials, labor, and process.
home made soap/domestic dirt is a piece consisting of five bars of
homemade soap placed on individual matching
white ceramic soap dishes that hang on the wall in a formal line. the soap is made from a recipe that i
found in a 1940's book titled "How to be a Good Housewife." (in addition to soap making, the book included
a recipe for how to cook the perfect pot roast, how to darn worn out socks, and various tips on housekeeping
and laundry.) home made soap/domestic dirt involved altering the soap recipe by adding my own ingredients - dirt.
i spent months turning my housekeeping chores into a collection and classification of dirt and detritus. my
labor to this end is not visually present in the piece, however it is implied and relevant. one bar contains
dog and cat hair, another bathtub drain scum, and then there is kitchen floor dirt, vacuum cleaner dirt,
and dryer lint. the bars of soap are almost painterly in color and texture - the ingredients are disgusting
and render the process of cleaning futile. the humor and absurdity of the piece gives way to a darker Lady
Mac Beth inability to clean things up no matter how hard i try.
my work is never sentimental or melodramatic despite its connections to personal and sometimes emotional
issues. the pieces themselves rarely reveal their personal associations. the formal qualities of the work
lend a sense of detachment. my visual aesthetic is always cool and minimal and my craftsmanship is always
refined as I strive to make work that is always beautiful, but always smart.
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