Personal Artist Statement

My work serves the same purpose as the warped carnival mirrors and depict the distortions of my perceptions and experiences. The use of ceramics in my work provides a satisfying sense of permanence that will outlive me. Clay has continued my admiration for finding beauty in the bleak as it has been normalized as a commodity from its initial setting in the sediment to its final setting in kitchen cupboards. The marks on each piece of pottery tells an anthology of previous owners. This body of work explores memories and the juxtaposition between external persona and internal thoughts. They touch on topics that would normally be found in a journal or diary.

The immortality of clay made it a fitting medium for depicting experiences that shaped me. I found that many of these experiences connected to perceptions that most people hide from the world. This body of work functions as a photograph inside of my house of mirrors. Permanently encapsulating fading memories I cling to and etched experiences I can't avoid all the same. Just like photographing warped mirrors, this combination of experiences are unique to me and vary as time goes on. The piece titled, "Better than you", incorporates a mirror to depict how people portray themselves to the world and their often conflicting inner dialogue. It is interactive in the sense that the perspective of the viewer determines how much of the reflected text is visible. The viewer is confronted with their own reflection when positioned so all of the text is visible.

Half-Buried is the only work that does not use ceramics and incorporates familiar aspects of the childhood toy, the Wooly Willy. Magnetism is incorporated to depict the fear that my traumatic brain injuries will leave me unable to perform basic cognitive functions. Each injury pushed me further into isolation from friends and family in order to recover. The potential future where I repeatedly introduce myself to those I have known and loved my whole life feels all too certain. Knowing that I could very well become an obligation to my family has been confirmed by neurologists saying that my next brain injury will likely be permanent. I chose to make the piece interactive, in order to give others the same sense of curiosity and frustration as they try to uncover the imagery the way I recover memories. As an interactive piece, the viewer’s initial experience is affected by the previous person, and they in turn will change the layout of the magnetic iron filings for the next viewer.