Self Portrait
Acrylic paint, drywall, wood panels and cotton/silk thread
28”x 34”
My hands are my identity. They are how I engage: drawing, folding, creating.
To create this piece I crocheted cotton thread into a net, draped between cut-out paintings of my hands in various states of making. The scissors hold the self-doubt I experience when creating, which I often resolve by deconstructing and reconstructing my own work. I made this piece before I discovered the words of Louise Bourgeois, but her words helped me understand what this is: a self-portrait.
Exposed
Acrylic on paper, Procreate text
12”x12”
This piece explores the tension between words and objects. The various colors of glassware were painted from life using acrylics and the text was digitally added onto a photograph of the painting. The text reads “can you see right through me?” reflecting both the transparency of the glasses and the feeling I often have of being transparent with my thoughts. I have often been told that I wear my emotions ‘on my sleeve’, and this has always made me feel vulnerable and exposed. I worry my transparency makes me appear delicate, like glass.
Dressage
Felted alpaca fiber
14”x11”
I wanted this piece to balance sharp contrast, with the blurred texture of felt. The sport of dressage requires control and precision; the goal is to look effortless while moving with the utmost perfection. “Dressage” reflects my perfectionism and how I am always working to soften it, blur the edges.
The grayscale technique is inspired by a collage project I created in an art foundations course (see next piece: “Self Portrait Collage”), a technique I now often use to deconstruct more realistic images into simple shapes that then come together almost like a puzzle. I needle-felted raw fiber skirtings from my family farm. I used undyed white, grey and black fibers which I then blended on a carding brush to create lighter and darker values.
Like learning dressage, felting requires endless repetition, forcing me to slow down, mindful of every “needle-stroke” yet unable to fully control the outcome.
Dressage process photos.
Dressage process photos showing my drawing deconstructing the horse into greyscale “zones”.
Self-Portrait Collage
Acrylic on paper, collage
10”x8”
This self-portrait was an exercise in greyscale made by painting ten pieces of paper fading from black to white which I then cut out and layered into this high contrast collage of my face. The way I made this piece taught me a technique I now often use to deconstruct more realistic images into simple shapes that then come together almost like a puzzle, as you will see in my previous piece “Dressage.”
Eggbeater Series Part I: The Accordion Book
Sumi ink, paper, black mat board, black tape, stop animation video
6”x6”
The creation of this book was an exercise in de-programming myself from the perfectionism that I often find myself paralyzed by.
I started by creating 10 Sumi ink abstractions of an egg beater with my non-dominant hand. This forced me to remain loose without overthinking every brush stroke. I created this aspect of the book in a state of flow. I then cut several 4x4 squares out of each painting and carefully glued them into an accordion shaped book I made from black mat board.
The careful nature of the book-making satisfies my need for precision while the imagery dances loosely across each page. This book shows my attraction to the tension between perfection and chaos.
Eggbeater Series Part II: The Deconstructions
Black paper, white bristol board
26”x22”
This series of six abstractions are all inspired by different aspects of a vintage eggbeater. I enjoyed deconstructing the eggbeater and reassembling it into graphics and patterns. To create the crisp shapes I used an exacto knife to cut black Artagain paper that I then pasted onto white bristol board.
The eggbeater is a very traditional kitchen tool that evokes the recurring theme of “women’s work” that I often reference in my art work.
Memoire, a mixed media soft book.
Found cloth, yarn, thread, pen, beads, block print
9”x9”
Memoire is a labor of love I made using old clothing and fabric scraps, upholstery swatches, doilies, yarn, beads, and ribbon. I worked in various techniques on each page such as machine and hand sewing, quilting, knitting, beading, drawing with pen and ink, and block printing. The found materials and text work together to express my connection to my home.
Repose
Charcoal on newsprint, Procreate collage
18”x24”
I loved this model because of the fluidity of both her body and her clothing. She was so relaxed, as she re-posed. This was my first time drawing from a live model, and somehow she inspired me to be loose – to capture something both rough and delicate. This collage is composed of five, five-minute newsprint sketches. I learned later that “repose” is a formal art term, and also the name of a painting by Manet, that depicts a woman at ease with herself. This piece is old and new: charcoal and digital collage, like the contemporary woman in baggy clothes reminiscent of figures on a classical greek frieze.
Body of water
Chicken wire, navigational charts, wire, yarn
22”x15”x8”
“Body of Water” is a sculpture I made from chicken wire molded to the shape of a woman's torso. Draped over the chicken wire armature are layers of old navigational charts of the waters around the island I call home. The ribs are made from blue yarn I crocheted around wire.
This piece is about how I see my body. I can see my reflection in the water, yet it is often distorted by waves or ripples. My body is how the world sees me before they learn what is on the inside and yet I am just water and bones, like everyone else.
Blue genes
Colored pencil on paper
9”x12”
I drew this portrait of my mother. It is one of a series of three portraits that I drew using colored pencils, playing with different values within a single color.
I ended up combining the 3 portraits into a collage piece titled “Matrilineal”.
Matrilineal
Colored pencil on paper, collage
11”x15”
This portrait shows the intersection of three generations of my family: me, my mother and her mother. It portrays the way that I am a product of the women who came before me, interconnected with them, and yet individual and different.
I drew each portrait separately using colored pencils and then tore them using a ruler to create a raw edge for the final collage product.
X-ray
Original linocut prints, Procreate composition
14”x16”
X-ray is about exposing my anxiety, the kind that I have to ease by pausing to breathe slowly and deeply.This block print was made by layering red and blue ink impressions on paper to create the lungs. The frame is created from a separate black ink impression of the carving. After creating this print on paper, I then digitally composed it adding small, almost imperceptible text between the seams of the lungs. The type layers in an element of vulnerability, almost as if showing the viewer the physical manifestation of the anxiety inside of me.
Flow
Posca Pen, pencil, collage, pen, watercolor
6”x9”
I chose to include my latest journal in my portfolio because it feels like a glimpse into my head and my process. I started this journal as I struggled to start an art project this Fall. I was so afraid of creating something inadequate, I felt stuck. This journal is an outlet, somewhere to create freely, somewhere I can be messy and imperfect. I have illustrated, collaged, printed and painted my feelings of anxiety and doubt and I have also captured the joy of playing around with inspiration and refining my drawing skills. The freedom to explore ideas and emotions in my journal feeds the creation of many of the pieces included in my portfolio. I titled my journal “Flow” because it allows me to create in a state of mind where I do not filter myself.
Body of Water: process photos
Grounded
Collage on cedar boards
46”x11”
I feel grounded by my home. I am at ease when I smell dewy grass and the cedar of the barn. This piece represents that feeling. “Grounded” evolved over many months, taking many forms along the way. First a simple acrylic landscape painting of a barn built last Summer at the farm, then photocopies of the painting sewn together like a quilt, and finally that quilt cut and pasted onto thirteen slabs of scrap cedar boards left over from the construction of the barn. This multi-media piece reflects the inspiration that I find so abundant in my home.
Lineage
Pen and ink drawing on paper sewn to a silk scarf with black thread
18”x18”
“Lineage” is a multimedia portrayal of Le Barroux, a small hillside town in Provence where generations of my family have lived since the late 1800’s. I drew inspiration from the old armoires full of pressed, white linens detailed with embroidery by my great-grandmother.
To create this piece, I mounted my drawing of the village to the back of a thin, silk neck scarf using black thread to trace the outline of each building on my sewing machine. I then carefully tore away the paper surrounding the buildings and certain windows to allow for a play of light. The sewing over the linear sketch pays homage to my maternal roots and references a time when sewing and mending was thought of as “women’s work”.
Typeface
Vintage typewriter, acrylic self portrait, 3 ply cotton yarn
13” x18”x12”
This sculpture is a self portrait about self-doubt. I spent a long time grappling with this piece, unsure of where to start, afraid of messing up the one chance I thought I had to create something meaningful with the typewriter. The process of creating the piece became the piece. The words “not good enough” painted on my cheek are the words I found myself repeating with every new concept.
I began by painting myself in a state of self-doubt on paper that I cut out and inserted into the paper shelf of the typewriter. I then used yarn to tie painted keys to the type, creating literal and figurative tension between me and the typewriter. This piece showed me to what extent doubt can be enabling.