ADS
Interviews
1. In what ways is your work inspired or informed?
My work is inspired by heritage. I come from a family of makers; they are craftsmen, architects, artists, carpenters, and crafters. Growing up I was fortunate enough to have known 7 out of 8 of my great-grandparents and all of my grandparents. My great-grandfathers were carpenters, painters, photographers, and architects. My grandfathers are carpenters, draftsmen, and contractors. My grandmothers and great-grandmothers sew, embroider, crochet, knit, mend, create fiber sculpture, and one attended Michigan State University for Art. Growing up surrounded by these amazing creators allowed me to foster my own ideas about not only creating art, but also the making process and the skill which goes into making.
I am also influenced by psychology and the way that the human mind perceives time and its progression. It fascinates me that as children time moves at a snail’s pace, there is so much that can be accomplished in one day. As people age, time appears to accelerate and things blur together often causing a sense of wonder at where the time went. The variety of perspectives people have of time as well as the experiences of time is interesting to me.
2. Which art movement that you feel a kinship to?
The Arts and Crafts movement of the early 20th century attracts me because it was pushing back against the industrial momentum of that time. I work in fibers, spin wool into yarn, weave, embroider and crochet. I can safely say that I am not embracing modern production technology in my work just yet.
While the Arts and Crafts movement attracts me because of its principles, the conceptual art movement of the 1970’s and 1980’s also strikes a chord. These artists brought abstract thought back into visual representation. Art is intended to make the viewer think and I feel that in some way encapsulating the viewer in time forces them to experience time. The experience becomes more visceral, intentional, and introspective because often, time is a part of life which is not considered as anything more than a marker.
3. What contemporary artist inspires you?
Ann Hamilton. I find inspiration in her early fiber works, conceptual pieces, and installations. I learned how to design a site specific piece and about the concerns which become manifested with such scale from looking at how she and other installation artists handle spaces.
4. Who else do you feel has informed your artwork?
Doug Guildford. He is a mixed media fibers artist whose work is never finished. A piece may be displayed in multiple ways, in different environments and always incomplete. He works with nets. I learned about him in a Fall 2009 Surface Design Article. Aesthetically I am not strongly attracted to Guildford’s works; I do however enjoy his concepts of his theme.
5. Overall, how would you describe your work’s content?
Time, life, and lines are the trio of elements which shows up continually in my work. All three connect to one another. I make records of time. Time is life, it marks how life passes. Lines are a means of keeping record.
These three items appear so often is because they fascinate me. I am intrigued by time and its passing, how people perceive time depending on their social status and age, and how time seems so intangibly permanent. Life and its phases intrigue me. Therefore I use non-archival materials which will deteriorate and change over time. My art won’t last forever and that is alright with me—this realization adds a human aspect to my process. As for lines, they started as a way to push the envelope in a class assignment. Then the line evolved into a way to demonstrate time and to record the effort which goes into making a piece in much the same way that lines appear physically on the human body to record changes and age.
6. Point out to us, the viewers, how and where we might find clues to your content.
Fringe is one of my more recent works and it shows how time is demarcated through individual strands hanging from a chain. These strands are moments in time and they act in much the same way that arms off a timeline chart do.
7. What do you still really want to try with your artwork?
I would like to work with different form of spinning and incorporating the thread which is the final product into my works.
8. Would you describe your work as “a coherent body of work?”
I have narrowed my focus, but broadened my means of expressing an idea. I have emphasized time as my core idea and have begun to elaborate on the idea of a timeline. Now I am creating a time web. This web of time shows connections through linking threads. Every moment can relate to another at any other point in time.
9.What do you think your artwork will look like in a year?
In a year I think my artwork will take on approaching new ways to represent time. It will still be installation, large, and time consuming.