artist statement
My aesthetic approach explores certain cultural veins--gothicism, horror, surrealism. My themes closely align with my slant as a feminist --knowledge and danger, domestic spaces (safe and unsafe), suburban unrest, women as muse vs. creators, language and the body, mothers & daughters, nature vs. civilization. My subject matter reflects ongoing passions and obsessions --victoriana, sideshows & carnivals, zodiac signs, horror movies, taxidermy, monstrous women, science fiction, mythology, fairy tales, ghost stories, urban legends. I love that which juxtaposes the beautiful and the terrible, the pretty and the horrific. I am also interested in the midwest as both place and concept, and much of my work finds its roots there.
Stylistically, I am interested in fragmentation, polyvocality, and distortion of narrative. I tend to work in the grey area between poetry and prose. The tension between the visual and the written and their combined effect. I love appropriated and misused forms--epistolaries, footnotes, indices. In current projects , I am fascinated by the possibilities of the lyric essay as medium for memoir. I am very much about utilizing vintage ephemera, found elements, and collage in both my written and visual work., which manifests both in my mediums and my approach to composition.