ALL OF THIS ARTWORK IS FROM MY YEARS IN CHICAGO STUDYING AT THE SCHOOL OF THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO FROM 2006-2010. IT HAS NOT BEEN UPDATED SINCE THEN. THIS WEBSITE WILL EVENTUALLY BE UPDATED TO NEWER WORK EVENTUALLY WHEN I GET AROUND TO IT.
From hot dog eating contests to boat rides at Party Cove, my work revisits and retells my family’s traditions at the Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri. These activities, which once seemed ordinary, now seem ridiculous and extravagant since my departure and distance from the Ozark area. Using fibers and printmaking as my mediums, I translate my affection for my family’s rituals and customs by way of laboring over each subject matter through the extensive processes inherent in sewing and printing. My work is a celebration and acknowledgement of the failures and oddities within a culture that I am immersed in. I am not laughing from an outsider’s view, I am a participant in the culture that I am critiquing; which allows me to bring this somewhat hidden Ozark way of life to a public that would otherwise have no knowledge of these traditions.
My forthcoming work will investigate the Ozark customs more broadly, expanding past family stories and focusing more on the Ozark society as a whole. As I am growing older and further away from my connection to the Ozarks, I am realizing that there is innocence and pure American sentiments that are not apparent anywhere else I have visited. Eventually I would like to take my work to the Ozarks and display it to the public in order to have a dialogue with the people from which these ideas sprouted.
From hot dog eating contests to boat rides at Party Cove, my work revisits and retells my family’s traditions at the Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri. These activities, which once seemed ordinary, now seem ridiculous and extravagant since my departure and distance from the Ozark area. Using fibers and printmaking as my mediums, I translate my affection for my family’s rituals and customs by way of laboring over each subject matter through the extensive processes inherent in sewing and printing. My work is a celebration and acknowledgement of the failures and oddities within a culture that I am immersed in. I am not laughing from an outsider’s view, I am a participant in the culture that I am critiquing; which allows me to bring this somewhat hidden Ozark way of life to a public that would otherwise have no knowledge of these traditions.
My forthcoming work will investigate the Ozark customs more broadly, expanding past family stories and focusing more on the Ozark society as a whole. As I am growing older and further away from my connection to the Ozarks, I am realizing that there is innocence and pure American sentiments that are not apparent anywhere else I have visited. Eventually I would like to take my work to the Ozarks and display it to the public in order to have a dialogue with the people from which these ideas sprouted.
