ARTIST STATEMENT

For most of my life, I've felt more stable while traveling, and less secure while living in a home. Throughout my childhood, my dad, older brother and I were constantly on the move. Long-term housing was a fairy tale to me- something on television - an abstract idea rolling in my imagination. Sometimes I would get curious and want to stay put in one place, yet I would never feel comfortable when we would stop to live in cities for months, or even one or two years at a time.

My dad always made our traveling a fun adventure, which helped ameliorate the stressfulness of the moves. For example, he always filled the trunk with fun stuff to play with. We would stop to eat sandwiches and play sports until we were exhausted, or had to hit the road again. Traveling adventures, like our picnics in the park, are still very much alive in me and are still playing back in my memory.

My transitory childhood spilled in to my adult life and my studio practice. I have made most of my art in precarious spaces, such as hallways, porches, benches, trains, buses, cars and while at work. I have primarily used impermanent materials, which I often find while perambulating through cities for hours and miles at a time. 

With perseverance, I have managed to live in one state(California) for over 10 years. Even though I still make art on the go, I now appreciate the stability of having a permanent studio.  My studio is like an altar of photos, drawings, writings, personal gifts from friends, and random ephemera I have collected through the years. The arrangement of these memory-laden items creates a space where I feel "at home" and grounded. Like the contents of my dad's trunk, they inspire me to imagine and play, but instead of traveling across the country, I am now traveling inside myself and within the stories of the past. I feel like a tree: I am rooted in one place, yet constant movement, like that of the xylem and phloem inside a tree, exists inside me.