Artist Statement
The myth creates meaning through the production of parable and reverence, and myths can range from the everyday to the absurd. By layering, attaching and deconstructing familiar and ambiguous forms I assemble conflicted environments where nothing is singular. Imagining the divine as a ceiling fan, the soul as an elevator, or a grain silo as a temple generates a conversation about the vernacular of the American landscape. The perpetual domestication of humans and their habitat are entry points into my ongoing examination and construction of meaning. With this comes the desire to mythologize the ordinary, the mundane, and the nonsensical.
The conflict between that structured and rational adult mind and the fantastical and terrifying exaggerations of childhood provide playful tools within my practice. As a result of growing up on the conservative high plains of western Kansas I utilize the peculiar devices of that environment. Whether it’s the severity of agricultural icons or the whimsy of big, puffy clouds that form and dissolve along the horizon, I find a rich collection of imagery within the home of my youth. My continually deepening intrigue with the domestication of the rural Midwest plays a large role in these orderly and extravagant construction techniques, reflecting memories and observations of wilderness and tamed beasts. Part of my process includes my gravitation towards scavenged materials. The more uncertain the objects I encounter are, the more intriguing I find them. The curiosity I experience within this suspended state of judgment is where memories come flooding back to me, and where I find myself connecting to the poetry of the cosmos.