Artist Statement

I make small, graphite drawings of the unseen minutiae of domestic life: the sounds of being at home, and the feelings they elicit. The furnace turning on, water running, and familiar footfalls become shapes whose strength reflects the value of these signifiers of well-being.  Interdependent with feelings, sound can nourish, repel, mark time, and shift with the weather.  Ever present, it eludes direct observation and feels internal and external at once. 

Often, my imagery incorporates the three-point shape of a triangle, an element inspired by a particular Iron Age Etruscan votive ear from the Harvard Museum collection.  The ear is tear-drop shaped and recognizable as a body part while being awkward in its inexactness. Here, the area where sound enters the body, the cochlea, is triangular, mysterious, a portal to the realm of inner life.

Votives were widespread in ancient Etruria and are found in sanctuary sites. I imagine a connection, across a chasm of time, to forbears visiting a sacred space with their hopes and fears. This, together with the relic’s literal persistence into the present, reassures me.  For me, art is the sanctuary to which I bring my tumultuous inner life.

Complementary to these drawings, I make diamond-shaped objects that pair listening with triads. Triads embody a balance between stability and flexibility. They are stable enough to provide a firm foundation yet flexible enough to be adaptive. Diamonds, which are horizontally hinged, mirrored triangles, interest me because they may suggest shields, keyholes, kites, or coffins. 

Imperfect and roughly formed, the surfaces of these objects bring to mind geologic processes. Fragile in actuality while referring to durability through time, they echo the votive ear. Through relationships of shape, texture, and color, they suggest joy, listening, attention to particulars and curiosity about interdependence.  They communicate an attitude of care.

Votive Ear, Etruscan, 4th-2nd century BCE Harvard Museum