Statement

I always find myself drawing shapes over and over again to the point of obsession. My shape inspiration comes from mushrooms and the various organic shapes they create, whether that is texture or color. Lion’s Mane is so aptly named for its stringy but voluminous hair-like nature. Inky cap mushrooms really capture the dark, vicious nature of black ink. Other parts of nature, like bones, skin, and sinew, also creep into my visual language. I create bodies, both organic and inorganic. I turn the rigidity of steel into large, flowing, amorphic shapes.  Each gesture is freehanded. I let my hand and eye guide me. 

I find meaning through process. Every small decision, every small change shapes the piece. While I begin my work with a plan, the voice of the medium causes deviations. As it diverges, the work begins to create itself, guided by this instinctual way of thinking. I am trying to first fail but later push myself farther. Everything I make takes up space as its own complex being, born of my insistence and time. 

The term tsukumogami comes to my mind. Tsukumogami are Japanese supernatural creatures that are created after a tool or item is taken care of and given time and insistence. With this care, the inanimate object can gain a soul. With my obsession, I hope to bestow a soul upon my own sculptures. The work really comes alive in the process. The ebb and flow of creating “problems” then solving them becomes the ocean coming into high tide. This volume generated by the process coalesces into a final body, full of insistence through process.