This series of bandaged canvas collages allows one to uncover or discover an unfolding story in the process of being covered up. Though the underlying painting/message behind the canvas strips may at first seem obscured, it evolves through multiple viewings and through the viewer’s changing perspective.  I am influenced by the artists in my family and the permission I was given as a child to create freely without boundaries.

I started working in this particular collage medium when my mom got sick. The practice then became a meditative experience to process the emotional pain of losing the woman who gave me my artistic freedom. As the practice of creating this art has developed and as I have evolved as an artist and as a mother to my own children, the work has grown to reflect how we uncover and distill different emotions and seasons of life.

The body of work for HIGH/GROUNDED captures snapshots of stories from my life. When you look at these collages, I want you to feel the story that is underneath the bandages as well as the story that develops as you cover over it. These artworks permit healing while simultaneously acknowledging the existence of the joy and pain that accompanies life; behind the layers of hundreds of strips of painted canvas lies a blessing or message for the viewer to slowly uncover. What is behind these layers is subject to the viewer’s interpretation and allows for a changing perspective as time and life evolves.