As a mother and an artist, my work explores the parallels of labor, insecurity, and satisfaction embedded in both roles. I grew up in a conservative rural, religious, and political community, and absorbed its constrictive narratives as a girl. The conflict between these narratives and my ambitions for autonomy drives my current work.
I am drawn toward process-heavy materials that are rooted in traditional practices. Currently, my work incorporates the use of encaustic, cyanotype printmaking, and collage. These techniques are used in tandem or on their own.
Encaustic is an ancient painting method using a mixture of wax and resin. Wax has the unique ability to be built up, scraped away, and re-melted. The physicality of this medium forces a tactile engagement between myself and my work. As the work progresses, the fatigue builds in my muscles and my mind, mirroring the act of parenting, a practice that requires physical and mental concentration, without a defined endpoint in sight. My current body of work explores the exuberance of family celebrations and the tug-of-war that exists between the energy expended in producing joyful moments and the reality of the spectacle. Consistent use of saturated colors and bold shapes contrasts with an unstable balancing point. These unrealistic fulcrums indicate the impossibility of being in full control and yet still being able to be filled with delight.
In a parallel process, I create narrative cyanotypes, I utilize found family photographs of women in my family in independent activities, revealing the spaces of independence within a restricted context. Garden plants, such as bleeding-heart flowers, found in my childhood yard and that I cultivate today create a landscape for these figures to live. Other source imagery includes vintage ephemera from the mid-20th century such as sewing patterns and Good Housekeeping Magazines, which were the wallpaper of my adolescent life. At times, figures are absent from the work to convey a moment of transition. These narrative images are collaged into cyanotype prints, a camera-less photography method. The distinctive blue print implies a sense of memory and nostalgia and reflects the constructed histories that still shape current societal expectations of women.
