Perceptive Surfaces

My work is inspired by the traditional handcraft techniques I learned from my grandmother growing up in East Tennessee. Drawing on sewing, knitting, and smocking practices, I translate them to materials unassociated with these crafts. I create highly textured surfaces that are orderly in one sense yet contain enough variability to implicate the slow work of hands as opposed to machines. 

I first encountered the transformative power of art through literature. Like handcrafts, literature has provided an important space for female expression. Creative writing from feminist and other marginalized perspectives contextualizes my work. 

The feminist Pattern and Decoration Movement (~1972–1985) provides another reference point to my work. Pattern and decoration artists used aesthetics of the home, craft traditions, and objects related to femininity to disrupt the hierarchy between art and craft. The movement rejected certain popular ideas of what was excessive and, therefore, unnecessary. 

I explore the hidden aspects of existence and things that are less visible– like emotions, certain kinds of labor, or materials and processes– that have been deemed useless in a culture fixated on productivity. We commonly refer to these things, whether they are actually objects or intangible, thoughtful actions, as “Labors of Love.” My work embraces the significance of these acts.