Artist Statement
As a mosaic artist I explore the interplay of materials and light in terms of reflection, projection and absorption. Mirror, textured, transparent, and translucent glass and slate play with each other in ways that fascinate me. My current work articulates multiple ways this can happen. The process also engages me in reflecting on how making art is meditative, healing, and growth-full.
As a determined recycler and reuser. I seek out ways to work with repurposed slate roof shingles, scrap glass and tile, found furniture, and rusted metal, turning them into art. Using what others decide is junk allows me to articulate some of my personal core beliefs. One is a cultural critique of "Waste and Want," the title of A Social History of Trash, by Susan Strasser. I believe there is much of value in the discards of our throwaway society. Another is that there is value in the reality of brokenness, and that it may take fragmentation to bring about a whole new articulation of beauty.
One focus has been using mosaic art as a way to respond to my experience of being diagnosed with breast cancer in December 2010. The horror of a cancer diagnosis awakened me more deeply to both the fragility and agency inherent in all human experience. Surgery and radiation brought me into community with the multitudes who are on the journey to survivorship. I felt drawn into representing my own agency through my artwork as I created images of multi-hued breasts complete with red bits of glass representing Warrior Cells that eliminate “the nasties.” While I understand the ten piece series I have created as Icons of Health and Healing, others see the images as flowers and artful combinations of materials, colors, and design.
I rejoice in how this medium provides an opportunity for me to express personal responses to life challenges and celebrations, while at the same time touching the lives of viewers in ways I may never know.
I have studied with Seattle-based teacher Kelley Knickerbocker, working with multiple materials, and learning the skills of edge and flat stacking. Crystal Thomas, also from the Seattle area, has influenced my use of color gradation and the shaping of cuts and curves. I am inspired by the work of British artist Helen Nock, as she combines slate and glass with wrought iron, and plan to develop my ability to interface these materials in a more integrated way, in addition to layering them as I do now.
I am a member of SAMA (Society of American Mosaic Artists) and the CMA (Contemporary Mosaic Art) online social network, and offer mosaic classes at a number of Adult Ed programs in southern Maine.
As a determined recycler and reuser. I seek out ways to work with repurposed slate roof shingles, scrap glass and tile, found furniture, and rusted metal, turning them into art. Using what others decide is junk allows me to articulate some of my personal core beliefs. One is a cultural critique of "Waste and Want," the title of A Social History of Trash, by Susan Strasser. I believe there is much of value in the discards of our throwaway society. Another is that there is value in the reality of brokenness, and that it may take fragmentation to bring about a whole new articulation of beauty.
One focus has been using mosaic art as a way to respond to my experience of being diagnosed with breast cancer in December 2010. The horror of a cancer diagnosis awakened me more deeply to both the fragility and agency inherent in all human experience. Surgery and radiation brought me into community with the multitudes who are on the journey to survivorship. I felt drawn into representing my own agency through my artwork as I created images of multi-hued breasts complete with red bits of glass representing Warrior Cells that eliminate “the nasties.” While I understand the ten piece series I have created as Icons of Health and Healing, others see the images as flowers and artful combinations of materials, colors, and design.
I rejoice in how this medium provides an opportunity for me to express personal responses to life challenges and celebrations, while at the same time touching the lives of viewers in ways I may never know.
I have studied with Seattle-based teacher Kelley Knickerbocker, working with multiple materials, and learning the skills of edge and flat stacking. Crystal Thomas, also from the Seattle area, has influenced my use of color gradation and the shaping of cuts and curves. I am inspired by the work of British artist Helen Nock, as she combines slate and glass with wrought iron, and plan to develop my ability to interface these materials in a more integrated way, in addition to layering them as I do now.
I am a member of SAMA (Society of American Mosaic Artists) and the CMA (Contemporary Mosaic Art) online social network, and offer mosaic classes at a number of Adult Ed programs in southern Maine.
