I’ve been making things out of trash for a long time.
I’ve been taught to play and enjoy my work, and never take it too seriously. This has led me to be a very process oriented artist. I like doing things the long way, getting my hands dirty with my work, and truly having every step of it be ‘me’. I began to find beauty in the discarded at an early age. I tend to fall in love with rocks, rusty old cans, and all sorts of items that someone else has fallen out of love with. I carry this idea (or problem?) into my work, both photographically and through mixed media assemblage.
In high school I fell in love with the subtle beauty and calm I felt when looking through the lens of an old camera. I carried this through college and graduated with a degree in traditional photography from The Evergreen State College in 2010. I enjoy photographing the subtle, less conventional sides of beauty that I find in the things mankind creates and leaves behind or overlooks. I shoot with cameras I love, that help me create but do not think for me. My cameras have big hearts, but no brains. I shoot with film (both medium format and 35mm) and instant film by Polaroid and Fuji.
Since graduating from college, I have returned to my original love of mixed media assemblage. Sometimes I combine it with photography, sometimes I let the two stand on their own. I love the therapeutic feeling of hammering things, and the joy of finding a washer on the sidewalk and putting it to good use. I peruse thrift stores, garage sales, and my friends’ basements looking for discarded treasures. I love giving things a new life, and seeing others’ joy in recognition as they see familiar objects in a new light.
I live on beautiful Orcas Island, off the coast of Washington State. I travel when I can, and spend the rest of my time tending chickens, working on my permaculture garden, and making making making!
