this is a place where i dream, make, and think / i am a visual artist whose practice sprawls across painting, sculpture, performance, and poetry

when i work in my studio, i view myself as a gardener, and my studio work is a gardening practice

i sow seeds of creativity, they propagate, then grow / and i like to propagate several things at a time / the gardening aspect is important because often i work with beeswax and this is where bees come from / an artist works like a bee / through this bee metaphor, i speak to the perpetual labor artists put in working with the substances they have at their disposal
 

there is a cycle of what bees, beekeepers, and artists do / as for me, there is a cycle to my work too – i delve into new art forms periodically and my process consists of micro-cycles: visualizing, making, questioning, listening to the material of choice, questioning again, writing, and reflecting

my approach is both a backward- and forward-looking: i like to use the materials that have been lying in and around my studio for some time, found, or gifted, and to create something new / i like to think of myself as a neo-mythic apiphilic archi-materialist:)

by neo-mythic i mean that i create new myths to replace old ones / apiphilic simply means that i am fond of bees / the archi-material approach means that i use old materials – both in a sense of abandonment and familiar through history, like beeswax, wood, steel, and leather

i want to guide you away from the studio for just a moment...

i am on the move a lot – walking, driving, or taking a train / when i do that, i think of questions that i ask myself, reflecting on my own work and see where they stem from / being on the road is really helpful because that is where the thinking happens / this way, i can see how all processes inform each other / all are equal, necessary and important / among many thoughts that visit me when i drive is a though about what will be left here after us / my work is both informed by the past and alluding to the future

back to the studio

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currently, my studio is in chicago because i am an artist-in-residence in BOLT Chicago Artists Coalition / my work evolved quite a bit since i've come here / i began to think more poetically about the the work i do / finding new words to describe or discover the elements in my art-making practice that propel it forward is exciting to me / when it comes to figurative art, the images i create now are of beings in a perpetual state of transformation / they are forming and fading away like all images are

a note on performance:

my performances are often collaborations with both professional artists and non-artists

my goal is to create friendships, but also to explore a hybrid intersection of arts – an experiment

i am inspired by ideas of transmutation, as well as creating a highly transformative experience for all artists involved in the project / by bringing our practices together, we are welcoming the potential to transform our own practices and  see where it will lead in the future