Disrupted Portraits
Military spouses relocate every 2-3 years, often moving across cities, states, and countries. As a 20-year military spouse, I create drawings and paintings that reflect this constant state of transience or “being between.” Spouses, living in a continuous liminal state, never know where their next move will take them and what awaits them there.
My work explores these themes through a process similar to military life: the chaotic and relentless cycle of breaking down and starting over. I utilize line to draw and redefine figures, while spray paint, gouache, and oil paint are used to destabilize them. This is a visual representation of the disruptive mechanisms that shape their lives. I repeat multiple times, creating a surface similar to a palimpsest; layered, unfinished, revealing traces of unresolved or previously drawn figures. I believe that, as military spouses repeatedly start over, they often find themselves caught between.
It is difficult to reach one’s full potential when one lives in a liminal state.
Military Spouse Project
Conceived in 2021, this first started as a way to thank the military spouses who were sitting for my Disrupted Military Spouse Portraits. I would photograph them for my primary project and then complete a more traditional portrait as payment. At first, it was just that, a payment. Then it began to grow into something bigger. It took on its own life. I see this as a life-long project, a way to document the lives of spouses that support those who serve our Country.
Pastel
Exploring life and form through the use of soft pastels. These works are based on life- but they are appreciation of material and color as well. I use line as a primary vehicle of expression in these work- considering these a bridge between traditional painting and drawing.
Sponsor's Last Four Series
While military spouses lead a rewarding and honorable life supporting our nations armed forces, it is challenging. One of the more daunting facets of military life is creating and maintaining a personal identity. On day one, when a spouse marries into the military they are confronted with this by the term "Sponsor's Last Four." To the military, they become a dependent are know by their "sponsor's last four," or the last four of their husband or wife's social security number.
Tall Tales
Cherrished family tall- tales are told, and sometimes embellished along the way. This series is no different- it is a retelling, exploration, and embellishment of my families' tall-tales. Colorful and playful, they are the visual representation of the 80s and earlier.
