Artist Statement

I draw from a lifelong relationship with performance and ecstatic dance as well as a close-up intimacy with the natural world. I work paint and pastel into soft, layered atmospheres that birth forth tangled bodily forms.

Initiation emerges from the murky churning of emotion and spirit, often agitated through song or scene. I proceed with gestural sketching, allowing my immediate body instinctual movement. These gestures result in recognizable forms, smeared and annotated. The gesture is a vital carving out of the question that demands to be asked. Sometimes the drawing is enough: a monolith in its own right. It stands upright regardless of whether I decide to move through it. From the drawing I think of performance. What symbols, colors, textures are asking to be choreographed into the answer? For these elements, I look to nature. It’s a gathering of supplies to craft into costume. What follows is a visceral call and response made material. I contort bodies into question marks and anchor them between mist and dirt.