With a focus on drawing and painting, I explore abstract and abstract expressionist styles through non-traditional approaches. I use a variety of painting and drawing techniques including colour fields, hard edge, monochromatic colour blocking, and mixed media collage with natural materials and found objects. Each style folds into my process to evoke emotion and movement in the viewer. Themes of memory, intuition, and identity are included in my art practice. My interest in exploring these themes is rooted in past and present interactions with social and physical environments. Exercising reflection throughout the artmaking process is a foundational part of how I continue to find inspiration.
Since starting my art practice, I have used photography, painting, and drawing to help myself overcome difficult feelings that have surfaced associated with having been diagnosed with Alopecia Areata: an autoimmune disease that causes hair on the body to fall out in small patches. I have had this condition since 2011 and have since explored my relationship to this condition through art-making. My painting titled, My Monster (2016), is my most recent reflection into my relationship with having Alopecia Areata as this condition can ebb and flow as time goes by. Reflecting on my relationship to this condition and how it affects my identity as an artist, art educator, and individual will always be a part of my art practice.
I have recently grown attached to painting on wood panels. The texture of the wood panel adds a feeling of unity throughout a painting and a series of paintings. Creating harmony and movement with colour is an approach to painting and drawing that I have continued to use in all my work. Colour is an important, significant part of all work; the use of a wide range of colours shows the emotional ups and downs that come with creating the art piece.
