I enjoy challenging the boundaries of what belongs in an artist’s toolkit, reimagining porcelain, reed, rubber, encaustic wax, aluminum screen, fiber, reclaimed post-consumer discard, and gilding foils in new and innovative ways.

Recent work transforms dressmaker’s pattern tissue through a process I call “Finger Knitting.” These sculptures — often accented with gilding foil or salvaged mill fiber — become large wall hangings and vessels with undulating, intricately textured surfaces.

I believe that by choosing to disregard the conventional rules for a material, I can work with complete creative freedom.

I sparked some attention when I first combined rattan reed commonly used in making baskets with industrial rubber used in construction. This unexpected pairing produced sculptures with a distinctive sense of personality and movement.

It all begins with a sketch. I am very consistent in taking time every day to draw in my sketch book. This is meditative time. Although my work is 3D, they are very much drawings — in space.  The shadows they create are informed by the often changing light passing through the form. 

My experimentation with dressmaker’s pattern tissue began as a way to texture surfaces and wrap reed forms. Later, I began using the tissue as my primary medium, cutting it into four-inch-wide strips and knitting it solely with my fingers. Close inspection reveals the tissue’s original printed directional guides, preserving its industrial origins.

By juxtaposing this humble, often discarded factory byproduct with materials such as gold gilding and salvaged fiber, traditional notions of value and materiality are challenged, spotlighting the undervalued labor of the sewing industry and exploring the historic significance and preciousness of gold. The tissue gains renewed presence and worth.

The large scale of these knitted constructions dramatically shifts the material’s role from a hidden, utilitarian substrate to a central, commanding element. Look closely, and you can see the echo of natural landscapes in their draped peaks, folds and gullies.