A little bit about me + my work
I am an artist whose practice emerges from deep engagement with the natural world, particularly through the observation of moths and birds. My multidisciplinary work—spanning painting, sculpture, printmaking, and experimental rewilding gardening—invites wonder, reorients perception, and proposes new ways of gathering and seeing.
I conduct ‘mothing’ events, inviting people to observe insects on sculptural mothing stations she makes and illuminates with special lights. Mothing is a night practice, and she uses this framework to produce a series of cyanotypes on lightweight fabric of the various species of moths and other insects that show up. Carefully remaining as faithful to their night-of arrangement as possible, the results are an ethereal constellation of suspended activity. The project offers an opportunity to observe and identify species, highlighting biodiversity, while capturing an image that showcases the dazzling beauty of moths. The information also serves as raw material to inform my standalone paintings. Painting on muslin allows the color to seep in and create a soft, naturalistic effect that’s conducive to detailing the moth’s markings. Flowing acrylic creeps and soaks, suggesting a surface in motion or a kind of ‘aliveness.’ A meditation on the form in such a way as to be past what is materially exact, something less knowable- but akin to the fact of beauty we find in organic life.
Seeing is to notice or become aware of something or someone visually or by using the eyes. Noticing is a profound act. It is the language of meditation and is also a core aspect of ‘birding’ or the activity of observing birds in their natural habitat, which is a significant source of inspiration and fulfillment for me. In assemblage works, a decorated accessory of handmade leather may appear. These moments of human style and decoration feel like hypotheticals in a field excursion, inviting a link to our own metamorphosis available through costume. The presentation of these works can lend a charge, pointing to the inherent eroticism in ‘watching’ and ‘discovery,’ and invites an engagement with the complexity of those concepts. Or at least that’s what if feels like to me!
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I’ve exhibited her work in the United States and internationally, most recently at NorthLoop West, MA, Blue Boy Space GA, Andra Norris Art Gallery, CA, The Barn Project, ME, The South Utah Art Museum, UT, The Concord Center for Visual Arts, MA, and Wells College, NY. Highlight residency experiences include The Montello Residency, NV, Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in Skowhegan, ME, and The NYC Audubon House at Governors Island, NY. I have several ongoing collaborative projects: MOTH BALL, an annual mothing-art event; The Marshy Garden, a pollinator-supporting garden project at The Soil Factory, Ithaca, NY; and the Skowhegan Bird Club, a bird club for artists. I have an MFA from the Tyler School of Art, PA, and a BA from Yale University, CT. I grew up with sea otters in the foggy clime of Carmel, California. I currently live and work in Ithaca, NY. I love biking + birding.