Artist Statement

My practice is rooted in values of generosity, connection, kindness, curiosity, and leaving the world a better place; I believe that the creation of community by bringing people together through unexpected, joyful connections is a powerful avenue for social change. One aspect of my art that helps to push this mission is scale: with each piece as large and complex as I can imagine, I am forced to bring together collaborators to carry some of the weight, be it physical, creative or emotional. Even the creation and delivery of the piece involves community engagement: one of the side effects of building art at large scale is that it eventually explodes out of the privacy of the workspace. Coming into public view while still in creation sparks interactions that help shape the final outcome of the piece. All these connections are an integral part of the work from its beginnings in collaboration with other artists working together to weave a story, through audience engagement and interaction with the art and with each other.

While my work uses many different media, all of it involves the use of light. Light is funny because you’re just seeing what it hits, shines through, is distorted by, and bounces off of. Anything can be a canvas, a lens, or a mirror. I sometimes work with chrome because it lets you see lights from several angles at once, and acrylic because it can transport light from one point to another, changing it along the way. Lasers and other strong lights illuminate the tiny particles floating all around us. I’ve recently started exploring the spectrum of light from IR to UV because these reveal a hidden world. In all my work, the source is less important than the interaction.