My vibrant, decorated paintings and drawings carry a sense of girlhood and transformation. My work challenges what it looks like to be sad or dealing with addiction. I show that sometimes sadness looks like bright neon pink or gaudy sparkling gems. On the other hand, so can connection, and joy. My work questions truth, and asks the viewers if anything is truly objective. I strive to enhance the physical world to match the spiritual world. Elements like hair, bright color, and certain types of mark-making come to the forefront, as a means of communicating feminine liberation. I am interested in truth and its relationship with the body and the transcendence of the body. The slippage of my figures into abstraction represents the beginning of this transcendence. 

My work uses diverse materials such as acrylic paint, oil paint, oil pastel, and acrylic ink. I use layered and textured marks to represent both figures and abstractions. I have developed a strong mark-making language which they speak through consistently. I think of this language as a means of recording the movement of my body and my tools. Swirly, loopy marks create a soothing and meditative experience of looking. I indulge myself in a messy and intuitive process. I tend to dive right into their work, and my fast decision making is majorly additive and comes with each layer. Goopy, textured mark-making makes itself known, and exists with the purpose of enhancing the idea of the “beautiful mess.”

 My work exists to start important conversations about being loud and taking up space. I am challenging the conventions and the perceived understandings of how women think and feel. I think it is important to be loud and shameless, and take risks in artmaking. The process of making a painting or drawing feels like taking ownership over my body and my voice. 

My work is in conversation with Haley Josephs and Caroline Absher. They have a common interest in dreamlike portraiture, bright colors, and intuitive, abstract mark making.