Advanced Fiber Studio (Highlights)
I was born in Detroit, Michigan in 1976. I grew up in makeshift forts, with a fabulous amount of stuffed animals, and was taken to my first rock concert at age two. The city of Detroit and my love of music has had the greatest influence on me; I have been shaped emotionally by these relationships. Here in Chicago I have new experiences and imagery, yet my past haunts the present. I do not want to take refuge in forgetfulness, so I draw, facing my memories and embracing them. I love to draw. My imagination shuffles my memories and my fantasies glorify the past. The drawings are reconstructions and reinterpretations that become tangible, believable and possible. Fantastic flowers, stylized text, hysteric cakes and creampuffs fill the page. I am influenced by my daily commute, the graffiti, the trash, the signs, everything I see everyday, never in the same way. Tropicalia and Electro are my current soundtracks. The differences of musical styles keep me shifting and changing my imagery and methods. The drawn image is translated through screen prints and transformed into fabric landscapes. Fiber offers me a large degree of versatility. I can print it, stitch it, stuff it; fabric is flexible and can hold the multitude of ideas. Fiber is inviting and interactive, functional and decorative. The drawings transcend the page in the forms of oversized bags, comforters, site-specific installations, stuffed tubes, and garments. With no fixed position the work can shift and form multiple relations with any environment.