Artist Statement

Through painting I explore the realms of imagination and the freedom it gives. Developing a personal symbolic lexicon I build a story into each set of images. I treat the medium as both sacred narrative spellwork and a place to dive into the absurd, liberating the fantastic weirdness of having infinite imagination.

Dreams are a source of inspiration as well as imagery conjured in mythology, folklore, and modern science fiction/fantasy. Wonderfully odd memories, moments that keep life weird and interesting, also show up in my work. Growing up in 1980’s era Tennessee there was no lack of irreverent absurdity in everyday life.

On February 2, 2022 I fell out of my studio chair and ruptured the tendon in my thumb, separating it from the bone. It was a huge setback, requiring emergency surgery and immobilization of my hand.

 
An element of strange magic, however, was involved in this incident: The previous day I was sketching imagery based on a dream I had in which bees came out my thumb. The opening on my thumb in these sketches is almost the exact size and place as my real surgery scar. In a way the artwork and accident feels like a spell that I unintentionally made. And whether or not one believes in such things, it reminds us that there are powerful unknown forces at work and the universe is whispering, hinting.

 
This event created a clear vision for my work moving forward making me aware of how intentional the narrative spells I cast with my imagery should be. It is important to me to impart to my audience that life is both magic and absurdity. That one’s life can include the experience of dreams that foretell the future and your Memaw taking you to JCPenny for that really bad perm.