DREAM STATE (2021)

    This body of work is titled “Dream State” and is inspired by a combination of imagination and the distorted storytelling of the subconscious. Much like a dream, these works are visual conglomerations of memories, projections, sensations, and bodily experiences. Grounded in the therapeutic undertaking of inner child work, my work offers a look into the process of reconnecting with myself through childhood memories and impressions.  I use identity and place to explore themes of spirituality, safety, innocence, and redemption. Much of  “Dream State” deals with place as a reference point for identity. Growing up, my family spent summers in the Blue Ridge mountains. My first spiritual experiences occurred there: watching cloud shadows move slowly across sprawling valleys and stacking ancient stones in ice cold creeks. As an adult I have returned to these sites as a pilgrimage of sorts to reconnect with the spiritual potency of my youth. These works document my reflections on these experiences.

Color plays a critical role in these works. Not only do my vibrant colors capture the viewer’s eye, they allow me to bridge the gap of catharsis and celebration by reimagining my world as a place of joy and wonder. I use acrylic paints to soak the surface of wood, paper, and porous ceramic to create an ultra-matte surface which suggests a sensation of softness. In contrast to the deeply reverent explorations that this work represents, I allow my methods to strike a chord of irreverence. Through granting myself permission to subvert the material, I am able to celebrate my intuition while engaging in play with color, texture, and space. In addition to clay forming, this body of work focuses on painting and collage as ways to act instinctively and immediately on creative urges, much like the way a child creates without the weight of self-consciousness on their shoulders.

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  This body of work serves as an ongoing exploration of personal history. Using reoccurring symbols and found objects, I contemplate the past in an effort to reconcile with the present. In particular, I find myself fixated on childhood and the mysterious act of interpreting early memory. My work offers a look into the process of reconnecting with myself through these childhood impressions. These pieces are often acts of catharsis- objects meant to honor my former self and restore my inner child with security and hope. 

The use of secondhand, discarded, or found materials supply additional layers of meaning to each piece. Most notably, I take the opportunity to make use of my own used or discarded materials in the work. In this way, the pieces themselves also become a personal archive. In contrast to the deeply reverent explorations that this work represents, I allow my methods to strike a chord of irreverence. Through granting myself permission to subvert the material, I am able to celebrate my intuition while engaging in play with color, texture, and space.

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 The making of this work has been driven by a love of touch and my relationship to the fundamental softness of various materials. Using these objects as a liaison, I leverage the personal nature of domestic items to engage the viewer in this motivation to feel.

The impetuous for the creation of my these works is my instinctual desire to touch and the way in which these impulses manifest as a means of alleviation in response to the fundamental softness of various materials. These objects are made to leverage the tactile intimacy and instinctual safety afforded by the materials that permeate our most personal spaces. 

 My soft sculptures reference the idea of a comfort object through the amassing of found materials of a personal nature into bound and bundled objects latent with meaning. Through scale, I hope to communicate the different ways the activity of touch can unfold in our lives, weather it is to bring something into our own space or to enter the space of another.

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