Work Statement
My sculptures are a product of my continual desire to understand and change the meaning of objects, especially those that were once valued, then discarded. I search for and alter mass-produced secondhand ceramic figurines, stuffed toys and furniture to create sculptures that embrace the unique aspects of the original objects while pushing them into the space of the uncanny. Through my collecting, recycling and reconstruction I reinvent the world, and bring attention, interest and love back to unwanted things.
I grew up in the rural Midwest with a collection of ceramic animals made from mass-produced molds and hand-painted by my grandmother. I loved these things and as I grew to understand how they were perceived by others it confused me to see them relegated as lowly, laughably ridiculous kitsch, rather than accessible ornaments worthy of recognition. In working with these objects, I draw attention to their subtle uniqueness and give them the respect they deserve.
In my newest works, I’ve been deconstructing stuffed animals and using them to make costumes for furniture, ceramic animals, and myself. These works, like my ceramic reconstructions, use the mask of comedy to make the tragedy of consumerist waste and lost love palatable. Referencing fairytale and folklore, the overlap of science and science-fiction, and the psychology of comfort objects and consumer culture, my work sentimentally and humorously offers considerations about the power of kitsch, the malleability of identity, and the "truth" of objects as they pass from one owner to another.
My sculptures are a product of my continual desire to understand and change the meaning of objects, especially those that were once valued, then discarded. I search for and alter mass-produced secondhand ceramic figurines, stuffed toys and furniture to create sculptures that embrace the unique aspects of the original objects while pushing them into the space of the uncanny. Through my collecting, recycling and reconstruction I reinvent the world, and bring attention, interest and love back to unwanted things.
I grew up in the rural Midwest with a collection of ceramic animals made from mass-produced molds and hand-painted by my grandmother. I loved these things and as I grew to understand how they were perceived by others it confused me to see them relegated as lowly, laughably ridiculous kitsch, rather than accessible ornaments worthy of recognition. In working with these objects, I draw attention to their subtle uniqueness and give them the respect they deserve.
In my newest works, I’ve been deconstructing stuffed animals and using them to make costumes for furniture, ceramic animals, and myself. These works, like my ceramic reconstructions, use the mask of comedy to make the tragedy of consumerist waste and lost love palatable. Referencing fairytale and folklore, the overlap of science and science-fiction, and the psychology of comfort objects and consumer culture, my work sentimentally and humorously offers considerations about the power of kitsch, the malleability of identity, and the "truth" of objects as they pass from one owner to another.