Telephone Game - 2022 - Mixed Media Performance with wood, acrylic, hardware, chalk, tin can phone, carpet, and child’s drawing - 32" x 19" x 53"
Telephone Game (detail) - 2022 - Mixed Media Performance with wood, acrylic, hardware, chalk, tin can phone, carpet, and child’s drawing - 32" x 19" x 53"
Telephone Game (video documentation) - 2022 - Mixed Media Performance with wood, acrylic, hardware, chalk, tin can phone, carpet, and child’s drawing - 00:10:03
Falsehood - 2022 - Installation with window, chalk, hand stenciled text, and distressed curtains - 63" x 42" x 4"
Kelly Farm (We are Shack Wizard) - 2022 - Installation with Kelly dolls, handmade jewelry box, and broken children’s teacups - Dimensions Vary
How Much Longer Until I Feel Like a Real _______? - 2022 - Performance with Walkman and Handbound Journal - Dimensions Vary
Caretaking Ritual - 2022 - Mixed Media Installation with video and the artist’s hair - Dimensions Vary
Caretaking Ritual (detail) - 2022 - Mixed Media Installation with video and the artist’s hair - Dimensions Vary
Caretaking Ritual (video component) - 2021 - Mixed Media Installation with Video and Human Hair - 00:06:15
Defects, 2020 - Video - 00:01:34
ARTIST STATEMENT
I am a visual artist working in multimedia sculpture, immersive installation, and performative action. My current body of work is a self-reflective investigation into my experiences as a young queer and nonbinary person growing up in an underprivileged household. Drawing upon personal archives and obscure childhood memories, I craft psychologically charged domestic environments and ritualistic interactions that lie somewhere between memory and dreamscape. I am interested in manifestations of trauma stemming from inherited mental illness, abusive experiences, childhood poverty, and suppressed facets of identity.
Oftentimes, the work begins with found objects: toys from childhood, journal pages, or a lock of hair. These are storytelling objects, remnants of the domestic sphere that have a personal narrative formed through associations and experiences. Other times the work starts with a compulsion: “Lock me inside a tube-TV filled with green Jell-O.” Driven by these points of fascination, I combine sculptural methods such as body casting with techniques borrowed from costume design and home construction to create physical manifestations of complex emotional states, memories, and interactions. The work is a hybrid of assemblage and fabrication, blurring the distinction between archival collection and theatrical display.
Interactive installation and performative action are my modes of engagement with the viewer. Through the physical and social awareness garnered by interactive and immersive experiences I aim to achieve a more vulnerable and empathic form of viewership. I hope to create spaces of solidarity and catharsis, and to offer a chance for empathic and educational dialogue surrounding topics often steeped in guilt, fear, and uncertainty.
EDUCATION
2023 MFA (candidate) in Studio Art, University at Buffalo, Buffalo NY (expected May 2023)
2019 BFA in Studio Art summa cum laude, Central Washington University, Ellensburg WA
2015 AFA, Spokane Falls Community College, Spokane WA
SELECTED EXHIBITION HISTORY
2022 Solo Exhibition, Transparencies, The Project Space, University at Buffalo, Buffalo NY
Punch Projects: Barnstorm 2022, Thorp WA
After the Charm: Chasing Chemistry, CEPA Gallery, Buffalo NY
2021 Dangerous Lullabies VII, The Dole Mansion, Crystal Lake IL
Incoming, B45 Lower Gallery, University at Buffalo, Buffalo NY
2020 No Longer and Not Yet, Das Schaufenster Gallery, Seattle WA
Exploring Our Fears, The In Art Gallery, www.theinartgallery.com, Edwardsville, IL
CCAN National Juried Competition, Center for Contemporary Arts, Abilene TX
10 X 10 X 10 X TIETON, Mighty Tieton Warehouse, Tieton, WA
The Intergalactic Open, ShockBoxx Gallery, Hermosa Beach, CA
2019 Terrain 12, Spokane WA
All In - Kittitas County Open Show, Gallery One, Ellensburg WA
Take Pride, Terrain Gallery, Spokane WA
Solo Exhibition, Maladaptive Environments, Gallery 231, Ellensburg WA
Juried Undergraduate Student Art Exhibition, Sarah Spurgeon Gallery, Ellensburg WA
2018 All Media Juried Exhibition, Chase Gallery, Spokane WA
Punch Projects: Barnstorm II International Juried Exhibition, Ellensburg WA
2017 Solo Exhibition, Costuming and Performance, North Spokane Library, Spokane WA
A Spotlight on the Arts, Seattle Art Museum, Seattle WA
2015 I Came for the Reception Food, Spokane Falls Community College, Spokane WA
Explorations XIV, Chase Gallery, Spokane WA
AWARDS, GRANTS & RESIDENCIES
2020 3rd Place, Exploring Our Fears, The In Art Gallery
2019 Innovation in Art Award, Kittitas County Open Show
Research Grant for Creative Projects, Central Washington University, Ellensburg WA
2018 Excellence in Art + Design Scholarship, Central Washington University, Ellensburg WA
Sarah Spurgeon Gallery Award, Juried Undergraduate Exhibit, Central Washington University, Ellensburg WA
2017 Artist in Residence, The Lab at North Spokane Library, Spokane WA
2015 Al Myers Exhibit Award, Spokane Falls Community College, Spokane WA
2014 Portfolio Award, Spokane Falls Community College, Spokane WA
TEACHING & ADMINISTRATIVE APPOINTMENTS
2021-23 Teaching Assistant, University at Buffalo, Buffalo NY (Instructor of Record: 3D Concepts)
RELATED EMPLOYMENT EXPERIENCE
2019 - 21 Event Center Coordinator, NorthEast Washington Educational Service District 101, Spokane WA
2019 Equipment Monitor and Office Assistant, Department of Art + Design, Central Washington University, Ellensburg WA
2015 Video Technician, Maelstrom, Saranac Art Projects, Spokane WA
2014 - 15 3D Studio Assistant, Spokane Falls Community College, Spokane WA
PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES
2022 - 2023 Board Member, CEPA Gallery, Buffalo NY
2021 - 2023 President, Art Graduate Student Association, Buffalo NY
2022 Member, Diversity and Inclusion Committee, University at Buffalo Department of Art, Buffalo NY
2022 Secretary, KuroNeko Cultural Association, Spokane WA
2021 Assistant Coordinator, NEWESD 101 High School Art Show, Spokane WA
2015 - 21 Vice Chair/Chair, KuroNeko Cultural Association, Spokane WA
2012 - 21 Exhibit Manager, KuroNeko Cultural Association, Spokane WA
2020 Judge, NEWESD 101 High School Art Show, Spokane WA
2018 - 19 Exhibit Director, Nook Gallery, Central Washington University, Ellensburg WA
2018 - 19 Member, Public Works Selection Committee, Central Washington University, Ellensburg WA
2017 - 18 Member, Student Art Club, Central Washington University, Ellensburg WA
2010 - 17 Graphic Design Department Staff, KuroNeko Cultural Association, Spokane WA
2013 - 15 Marketing Director, KuroNeko Cultural Association, Spokane WA
2009 - 14 Committee Member, Japan Week Spokane, Spokane WA
CURATORIAL PROJECTS
“Keith Remastered,” Nook Gallery, Ellensburg WA, Exhibition co-curator, May 2019.
“Salon des Refusés,” Nook Gallery, Ellensburg WA, Exhibition curator, April 2019.
LECTURES & WORKSHOPS
2017 - 19 Class: “Live Drawing,” KuroNeko Cultural Association, Spokane WA
2019 Lecture: “Ideate,” Symposium Of University Research and Creative Expression, Ellensburg WA
2018 Workshop Series: “Plaster in Art,” Spokane County Library District, Spokane WA
2017 Workshop: “Introduction to Plaster and Surfaces,” Spokane County Library District, Spokane WA
2017 Workshop: “Introduction to Relief and Plaster,” Spokane County Library District, Spokane WA
PUBLICATIONS
“The Lab.” Engage. September-December 2017. 18-19.
“Goodnight Moon.”, “Who is that Shady Character?”, “Dial of the Four Giants.” The Wire Harp, 2015.
19, 45, 67.
“Dear Death.” The Wire Harp, 2013. 44.