Drawing has always been the primary tool of my practice, though there are moments of engagement with paint and colour as well. My ability to draw appeared early and quite fully formed. I searched and struggled for decades to move beyond the dazzle of effortless representation towards something more satisfying, a narrative thread which might speak to a deeper sense of imagery. My practice evolved in fits and starts. I even tried walking away, seeking for other ‘careers’, but art wouldn’t stay on the sidelines. Finally, I began to dream of making large charcoal drawings and so came to make large charcoal drawings of my dreams - not for the purpose of analysis but rather as a means to go back in and continue the encounter. Hence I found in my practice a method to track clues of the inner existence, a hunt for a hint of the unconscious. I may be after some description of what could be called “spiritual” (a word which makes me cringe) but I am not inclined to locate or constrain that search within cliche or convention. I draw - and through this process seek to be surprised by what might be revealed among the marks. As such, the work becomes about mapping other kinds of landscapes - not unlike wandering through a good night’s sleep, the vista of dreams, the terrain of memory.
I have relocated to the UK (with my British husband) from the US and will soon begin a practice-based PhD at UWE in Bristol. My research area is tentatively titled The Anthropology of Sleep. (I am intrigued by the idea of exploring identity within a state that often defined as a lack of awareness. and how we inhabit our being inside a condition that suspends direct consciousness of the physical body and existence...)
And I am (always) looking for ways to connect with the larger artistic community and to engage in bigger conversations.