I am a multimedia (mostly textile) artist, interested in how our lives are shaped by the fabrics of the clothes we wear, the blankets we cozy up in, and the social fabric that we weave together with our neighbors. I want to invite people to get curious about the materials around them, get engaged in learning where they came from and how we can honor them through care, mending, and innovative reuse. I am mostly self-taught and an avid scavenger, most of my work is made with salvaged and thrifted materials, invoking beauty and utility from things that may have otherwise been discarded and forgotten.
My work starts with materials. Materials that I find, materials that find me: in the thrift bins, on the roadside, in a truckyard, left tucked in a stack of wooden pallets. Given to me by someone heartbroken by a critical tear in their favorite top who can’t bear the thought of the pretty paisley cotton ending up in the landfill. I take them in and give them a safe place to rest until they are ready to speak to me.
I create hand-stitched texture landscapes for humans and their homes. Paths of slow stitches invite touch and exploration of the textile geography. Sometimes the designs come in dreams, sometimes they are slowly shaped from small stacks of color and texture that call to me, asking to be near each other. I cut, sew, iron and repeat. I fold, twist, stitch and weave. Sometimes the shapes and forms are repetitive, and I find a rhythm. Other times they come together one piece at a time and I don’t know what the next piece of the puzzle will be until it is. In all of my work, I want to remind the world, there is so much softness, enough to go around. We are living in a world of plenty.
Most of my recent works are bed quilts, made with salvaged materials. But I’ve been expanding my creative gaze into new realms: useable art pieces to carry on the go. I have been diving into the natural dyes, pulling pigments from kitchen scraps and locally grown and foraged plants. I’ve also begun to experiment with bookmaking, fashion accessories and portable game boards.
