artist statement

I’m fascinated by the horror genre-- however, I often find myself finding the monsters more interesting than the protagonists. I don’t know if it’s because I’m trans or queer or neurodivergent or what, but I’ve always found their “other”-ness sympathetic. I have used monsters as symbols in many of my pieces this year. For example, with my soft sculptures, I wanted to depict my own loneliness, and the pity and revulsion that comes with vulnerability. But in some of my other pieces, I just wanted to make some friendly little guys.

PROJECT 1: water + crayons

Dissolution

8"x7"

ink, crayon, tissue paper on crayola crayon box

When making this piece, I focused on the aspect of water that dissolves and degrades. This was the first project of the year, so I wanted to go outside of my comfort zone of Realistic Pencil Drawing and do some more sculptural/process oriented stuff.

PROJECT 2: artist-inspired

Vivisection

4' x 3' x 3.5"

fabric, yarn, t-pins, forceps

This piece was inspired by Julia Scher's sculptural pieces dealing with themes of surveillance, as well as Samantha Hensley's extradimensional creatures. I wanted to make a piece about the contrast between the clinical, sanitary detachedness and inherent intimacy of surgery.

PROJECT 3: plant & pattern

Skinned Knees and Otter Pops

About 2'x2.5', I couldn't find it to take measurements

acrylic on cardboard, hot glue

This piece was mostly inspired by the memories I have of playing on the playground in elementary school. For some reason, dandelions are linked in my mind to childhood innocence.

PROJECT 4: art & text

Portrait of a Graduate

4'x4'x4"

thread, sharpie, hilighter, acrylic, pencil, painter's tape on found paper

For some reason, I've kept a lot of my old schoolwork over the years, and when I heard the prompt for this piece, I knew I wanted to use some of it. I find it really interesting how meaningful/symbolic some documents can be when they're essentially just ink or pencil on paper that we as humans have just decided are important. Using my assorted school paraphernalia gave me a sort of baseline of meaning to start off from.

PROJECT 5: mapping

In A Bitter Syrup

16" x 20" x 2"

gouache, tracing paper, pencil, acrylic, plastic ants on board

"ant mill (n.): a phenomenon where a group of army ants separated from the main foraging party lose the pheromone track and begin to follow one another, forming a continuously rotating circle and eventually dying of exhaustion"

When I made this piece, I was in a pretty bad place, mental-health-wise. I kept having episodes where I would stare off into space, unable to move or focus on anything. During one of these episodes, I was lying on the floor, and I started thinking about different ways in which I have interacted with ants in my life (ex., my old house had an ant infestation, I had one of those gel ant farms, etc.). The title refers to a song of the same name that reminds me of the feeling I get during these episodes, and also ties in the time I accidentally ate the poisoned bait from an ant trap (It was a syrup that tasted bitter. Haha).

"I found it in the woods. It was whimpering, begging to be held. When I touched it, it burst like an overripe fruit, and dissolved in my hands."

PROJECT 6: monument

Antigone

?'x?'x?" fabric, thread, assorted yarn, buttons, wire, quilt batting, an old rusty dog cage i found in the woods

This piece was kind of in the same vein as my other piece, in that I made a funky little dude and then made an environment to give it some context. (fun fact: the first one's name is Charlemagne, and this one's named Louise Longlegs. they live in my room now and i love them very much)

PROJECT 7: materiality

Confessional Hearts

?'x?'x?"

fabric, sewing thread, embroidery thread, stuffing

I started this project at a time when i was really questioning my sexuality... like i knew i was asexual but i was questioning whether i was aromantic as well. So I was having a lot of thoughts about romantic attraction and like crushes and stuff. Anyway. Ideally there'd be a ton of these in different colors all scattered on the floor in a big pile but i kinda ran out of steam so i just have this one. here r some other things i was going to write on them:

DID YOU KNOW THAT CATS SAY "I LOVE YOU" BY BLINKING SLOWLY? SOMETIMES I DO THAT WHEN I CAN'T SAY IT OTHERWISE -- I'M THE ONLY BOY IN THE WORLD TO EXPERIENCE COMPULSORY HOMOSEXUALITY -- I LOVE YOU I LOVE YOU I LOVE YOU -- DO I WANT A PARTNER OR JUST ANOTHER WEIGHTED BLANKET -- etc. etc. etc.