My sculpture and two-dimensional work embrace the concepts of impermanence and interconnectedness. I use materials such as paper, bark, fabric, wood, leather, plastic, and metal, as well as recycled and found objects. My goal is to create pieces which have been stripped down to bare essence, resulting in work which is skeletal and fragmented. Negative space is frequently more significant than positive space. Fragility is always a factor. Most often, I create individual pieces which are part of a series. The interrelation of the pieces is an important factor in the overall impact.
Much of my sculptural work takes the form of a vessel or bowl, a simple but powerful shape representing self and non-self, birth and rebirth. Other pieces are more linear or even figurative. Many are inspired by nature as are my two-dimensional pieces. I like to try to draw in the viewer by challenging perceptions, which might be physical, sociological, or philosophical in nature.
I stress texture, line, and movement. Color is usually quite subtle in my sculpture, while it is more vibrant in my two-dimensional pieces. Many of my processes are reductive. I bleach, melt, burn, drill, cut, scratch, and tear my materials. Conversely, I weave, stitch, layer, tie, mold, cast, nail, screw, and weld elements together. Images and text are often incorporated using silk-screening and other printing methods, and surfaces are sometimes embellished with pigments, dyes and patinas.
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