Artist Statement for the Fiber Casts Series

I purposely try to make my work aesthetically pleasing - one could even say decorative. I do so to call attention to the internal, which I think is often more beautiful. The fiber casts are about the formal elements of movement and gesture. They also occasionally capture the spirit of the model.

To create the work, models wearing tight-fitting underclothes get wrapped in a thin sheet of plastic. After wiring and coating cloth in a stiffening agent, I tightly wrap the piece around the person to get a full body impression. The cloth slowly hardens around the model and after a few hours, the person can wiggle out of the work. The resulting stiffened shell captures the shape of their form.

A strong believer in the importance of collaborative and community-based art making, I try to always involve others in the artistic process. I am interested in how that type of participation can shape a piece aesthetically and conceptually as the circumstance of each casting imbues the work with an often unexpected narrative or symbolic dimension as evident in the final sculpture.

With a background in fiber art from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, I am inspired by the works of George Segal and Edward Kienholz, Annette Message, Louise Nevelson and Eva Heese, among others.

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