About ME
I grew up in the western suburbs of Chicago, Il. I received my bachelors in Studio Art from North Central College in 2013 and recently completed my graduate studies at Southern Illinois University Carbondale where I earned my MFA in Sculpture.
I did not come to the art world at a young age. As a kid, I did not set out to be an artist, or have my mind set on any particular dream job for that matter. While many of my peers went to college, I went to work. I have spent time in various jobs including a shipyard worker, welder, millwright, inventory control, bouncer, EMT, even as a buyer for grocery store. The twenty-five jobs I held brought with them skills and experience that ultimately helped shape me. I grew up going to museums, threshing bees, and tinkering in the garage; which helped form my interest of mechanics, combined with the love for working with my hands. My artwork is about change, about growing as an individual by learning to let go of self-doubt, anxiety, and overcoming my own mental constructs. The work highlights the choices I make and the stresses it creates, whether it is not letting people in, giving up some control, or pressing on to a goal. It is those decisions and the drive to better myself that has led me to feel more like a machine than a human. The choice led to merely going through the motions, suppressing emotion, desire and any sense of a balanced life. In simple terms I am a work in progress. Within my work, I tend to limit the information given or control the viewer’s interaction, be it limiting the view, turning off, or being locked to prevent use. I see the work as ambiguous, touching on personal aspects of my life but also can be seen as humorous. The inspiration for my kinetic work comes from mechanical motion, be it a steam locomotive, hit-n-miss engine or an old pocket watch. The simplistic motions that are combined together create a complex object that moves or operates which could simply be called a machine. My work has roots in Automata, but I don’t feel they can be classified as such, instead refer to them as “machines”. Traditionally Automata replicate human movement or function but it has never been my attempt to recreate life-like articulation. Instead I use components of the body with mechanical motion or they become housings to contain a movement. The machine becomes a metaphor for me; their function is illogical, as they don’t have a practical purpose. Additionally, my work is generally shown on crates versus the traditional white pedestal. Crates are functional for shipping purposes but also help round out the machine like qualities to my work. The work is compartmentalized within the crates themselves; it becomes a coping mechanism or protection. I have come to use a hybrid of methods to create the work, involving new technologies including 3D printing, photogrammetry, CNC machining along side more traditional art processes. It is because of this that I will not classify myself by any one medium, but instead say that I am an artist. |