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Statement
Inspiration can be a quirky and illusive thing. When you give it free reign, it can be a jumbled-up mess of external influence and interior response, resulting in a unique perspective on the world. The stories shared here are a mishmash of reactions to the oh-so-short news cycles plus outer space, inner space, inner earth and inner me.
These pieces come to life through vibrant colors, graceful curves, sometimes awkward lines, plus the shapes created by these lines. But even more important than the formed shapes are the interaction and interplay between the shapes and colors. Attract vs repel; tension vs easing of tension; monumental vs intimate.
Stories of war and peace, conflict and resolution, compromise and stubbornness, both internally and externally, live here. How we are squeezed/pulled/collided with, melded with, individually and as subsets/groups. Red vs purple vs blue; human vs animal vs planet…All perspectives changing daily.
About…
I worked as a machine embroidery artist for over 20 years, creating large scale 2 and 3 dimensional pieces… until midway through the pandemic. While the speed of stitch had been part of the appeal, suddenly it became frustratingly slow. I began taking art classes online, trying various media from acrylics to pastels to collage and oil pastels.
With the help of an art mentor, I got up the courage to try oil paint. I also learned new ways to think about the process of creating art. For me, stitch required painstaking design and planning, including digitizing on the computer, followed by days of stitching on an embroidery machine. Oil painting on the other hand, allows me to jump right in with whatever wants to be painted that day, even if it changes massively during the visual editing process. It is a much more joyful process.
While my inspiration remains unchanged—the natural world, the sky, the sun, ephemeral movement and flow—I now work much more spontaneously in the abstract than i did as an embroidery artist. I received a diploma in 2004 in Creative Studies—Design and Embroidery through City & Guilds of London, and currently work with an art mentor to explore creative direction and implementation.
