I pull traditional ideas forward and vary the form but not the formula.  Therefore, I might arrive at the same conclusion as another artist despite our different mediums, locations or life experiences. Our digital world offers a daily jumble of images that blur divisions and promote the fusion of ideas. 

 

My work challenges visual perception by merging formal considerations with optical effects that interrupt and disguise ordered systems. Pulsating striped rhythms and high-contrast textural effects fade in and out of dizzying figure/ground relationships, while a playful use of pattern is rooted in nostalgia, memory and imagination. 

 

I compose with stripes, blocks, and textures, in addition to color and linear gradients to articulate transition and visual dimension. I often include meandering lines that guide the eye along a traceable path.  I intuitively apply Gestalt principles that trick the eye by simplifying complex patterns by way of organizing related shapes. Many of my ideas are presented as a series where each piece is a factor in a longer record. Working this way allows me to present variations on a theme. 

 

My work is conceived within the tradition of weaving, a binary system, which requires a creative and technical mindset to solve visual and structural, puzzles. A precursor to computing, the perpendicular grid, of warp and weft, is the foundation of woven cloth that stores coded patterns and embedded imagery. The interplay of yarns produces discernible color tones and textures that support a deeper exploration of translucency, opacity, saturation, and color interaction. I am guided by an intuitive sense of geometry and mathematical practicality to explore structure-based, multi-layered constructions that rely on both loom-control and hand manipulation. 

 

I draw inspiration from the Bauhaus model of integrating Art, Design, and Craft, and The Weaving Workshop where female students applied fundamental Bauhaus ideals that contributed elevating weaving into new modern space. These ideals continue to move through other institutions, including Black Mountain College, and from one generation to the next like an infinite, never ending thread.

 

Weaving is rooted in function and skilled handwork, and grew into a Craft medium that fostered individual expression in opposition to industrialization. There is a certain charm found in the evidence of hand-made processes associated with the tradition of Craft. The versatility of my practice is that I am trained in the lineage of function and design but I also rely on a foundation of Art History that informs a broader exploration of visual ideas. I am inspired by Minimalist, Abstract and Impressionist painters that changed the way we see optical effects and color relationships. I connect many of these concepts back to weaving and my own study of geometric abstraction. The loom is a mechanized extension of my mind while my hands make the connection between the mental and the physical. I have a growing interest in the relationship between Pointillism, digital pixels and the gridded interlacement of colored yarns. I strive to create work using the fusion of history and tradition shaped by a modern matrix.