USA Projects

“Come Undone” is an installation of work delving into my questions and challenges towards gender identity, and involves a directed collaboration with 3 artists in the creation of large scale mixed media elements. 

 History:  I began using the animal image in place of the human body as a means to deceive.  I want the viewer to engage in an intimate and irrevocable relationship with the characters that I create, so I borrow the perceived purity and moral innocence of the animal image and suffuse it with human complexity.

The Project:  For my next major installation, I will be exploring ideas of personal identity and the consequences of both rebelling against and embracing gender roles.  Specifically, I have designed a series of 6 figurative works that take on iconic themes of the feminine.  In each portrait created for this installation, I hope to catch a glimpse of its core – where these aspects of gender roles clash and meld with the individual stories of the people trapped within…to seek tenderness and understanding by unraveling . 

To this end, I wanted to reach outside my normal process by bringing in other artists, particularly  artists working in other media, working in a directed collaboration on the installation.  I have invited 3 women to help create large fabrications that in turn: bind, cling, seethe, expel, and exude  from within the figures – revealing glimpses into the feminine from different perspectives.  

Funding:  In order to make this project possible, I am asking for $12,000 support to cover the costs of:

1. Bringing the 3 artists to my studio here Eastern Washington

2. Providing a modest honorarium to each artist for their time

3. Materials used in experimenting with mixed media: fibers, sugar crystals, and fabricated contextual elements.

        Additional support up to $24,000 this would allow me to:

1. Invite a 4th artist to be involved with the project

2. Increase the honoraria for each artist

3. Finance the purchase of a larger and better-equipped kiln – allowing for an increase in scale, and decreasing time needed to finish my larger works.

It has been a surprising and humbling experience over the past 10 years to have the support of so many amazing people and organizations.  That generosity, and the excitement about presenting new work, is what gets me up in the morning – restless to dive into the clay and make it all happen.  I hope you will be a part of it!