Biography
I am a scavenger, a collector, a researcher and a maker—of things, tools and spaces. I was born in Philadelphia and currently live in San Francisco. I received my BFA from The Tyler School of Art, Temple University Philadelphia, PA and my MFA from The San Francisco Art Institute. I spent my childhood in thrift shops, nature museums and libraries where I developed a life-long love of dusty spaces, old things, the natural sciences and visual display.
I prefer to work in non-traditional sites creating projects that integrate into the character of a place. I like a site with some experience—unfinished floors, walls with layers of paint, a site that tells its story through architecture, materials and wear—a place with a life of its own where the past, present and future co-exist. Many of my projects are site specific installations; works that I would never have made, had I stayed home and which I could not imagine until I found myself in those places. I re-grouted the stone floors of a 13th Granary with spices in the Czech Republic, covered the walls of what was once a private home in wall paper made from white feathers in Malmo, Sweden and made a natural history museum display with dozens of toy plastic animals in a Store Front in Greensborough, NC. These projects are conversations with the site, grounded in research and experimentation and are my preferred way of thinking and making.
I have been studying Utopian experiments in art and society for most of my adult life. I wrote my Master’s Thesis on the search for Utopia in the beehive, comparing scientific and creative interpretations of the beehive as a utopian ideal in late 19th and early 20th Century bee lore and natural science. I am interested in the nexus points that inspire people to imagine, adapt and invent alternative ways of living and coexisting. I teach a class at CCA that studies utopian communal experiments in North America through the lens of Folklore as a way to contextualize the circumstances that lead to multidisciplinary practice in art, craft and design. My utopian studies have taught me to find myself as an individual and as a member of society through creative expression and service.
Artist Statement
My work is characterized by observation, reflection and process that result in works that explore concept through investigation and investigate through experimentation. I work in multiple disciplines and mediums creating projects that interpret perceptions of time as a sensual process enacted upon and through the body. We measure time in so many unconscious and intimate ways: counting and graphing the hours and days with songs, devices, and rituals; seeking to strike a bargain with the relentless cycle of life, gazing back on the past while stumbling into the future. In my experience, time is tangible: measured in stitches, steps, shadows, and breath; characterized by the interplay between action and stillness.
I read the world as pattern and experience it as time code, reading and misreading pattern and symbol as sensory narratives through materials, process and kinetics: ephemeral materials like water and wax, processes like spinning and embroidery, kinetics that employ rocking, melting and evaporation, are sensory based, investigations of temporal patterns that structure our actions as we move through life. I am drawn to the hidden patterns found in text, genetic sequences and natural forms. These patterns are embedded in my experience of reality and inform the content and method of my work through the transformation of found materials into process driven contemplations of time based phenomena.
Resumé
Education
M.F.A. New Genres, San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA
B.F.A. Tyler School of Art, Elkins Park, PA
Temple Abroad, Lungotevere Arnaldo da Brescia, Rome, Italy
Collections and Commissions
2022 FOXP1, Paul Mahder Gallery, Healdsburg, CA
2019 Visual Display for J!NS Eyewear, Plainfield, San Mateo, CA
2017 Rivers, Vertical Fountain, Paul Mahder Gallery, Healdsburg, CA,
2014 TEX28, Paul Mahder Gallery Collection, Healdsburg CA
2013 "Green Machines" Commissioned Dioramas, Chabot Space Center, Oakland, CA
2012 "Flight Diagrams" ZKU, Berlin, GE
2012 "ABAAB" Alter Space, San Francisco, CA
2011 "Magic Lantern,” Roxie Theater, San Francisco, CA
2004 “Ambient Evaporate” Blue Room Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2003 “Invisible Book” in Collaboration with Steven Elliott, Reed College Library Rare Book Collection, Portland OR
Artist Residiencies and Awards
2019 Jury Prize, Currents, Chico Art Center, Chico, CA
2017 Artist in Residence, Ayatana Art Science Residency, Ottawa, Canada,
2017 Artist in Residence, Valorizzazioni Culturale, Venice Italy,
2016/17 Artist in Residence, 3rd St. Studios, SFAI Public Program, San Francisco, CA
2016 Award of Excellence, Dave Bown Projects, NY, NY
2016 Jury Prize, Harmonograph, Maker Faire, San Mateo, CA
2015 Measured Intention, funded in part by the National Endowment for the Arts
2012 Artist in Residence, ZKU Center for Art and Urbanistics, Berlin, Germany
2007 Artist in Residence, Elsewhere, Greensborough, NC
1997 Artist in Residence, Center for Metamedia, Plasy, Czech Republic
1996 Artist in Residence, The Headlands Center for the Arts, Sausolito, CA
Solo Projects
2021 Magic Gum balls of Fate, Artscape, Toronto, Canada
2015 Measured Intention, Hancock Shaker Village, Pittsfield MA
2014 Self Illuminated, Alter Space, San Francisco, CA
2009 New Work Red Cake Fine Arts, San Francisco, CA
2009 Petrified Forest Ampersand Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Select Group Exhibitions
2021 50/50, Sanchez Art Center, Pacifica CA
2021 Materials Hard and Soft, Patterson-Appleton Arts Center, Greater Denton, TX
2019 Putting It All Together 2, The art of Assemblage, Foundry Art Center, St Charles, MO
2019 Alchemy, Juried Exhibition, Sonoma Art Guild, Sonoma, CA
2018 Eco-Connectivity, Thaer Inst. of Horticulture, Humboldt U. Berlin, GE
2018 Art/Nature Science Soiree, Humboldt University Library, Berlin, GE
2018 Anatomical Studies, Sideshow Gallery, Chicago IL
2018 Can I Kick It?, Robert McLaughlin Gallery, Halifax, Canada
2018 Art Science Trading Card Show, Art Science Gallery, Austin TX
2017 East meets West, West meets East, Valorizzazioni Culturale, Venice Italy
2017 “Materials Hard and Soft” Patterson-Appleton Arts Center, Greater Denton, TX
2016 “Harmonograph” Maker Faire, San Mateo CA in collaboration with Seth Augustine
2015 “Art Mobile: Structures and Stories” Traveling Book Show, Bucks County, PA
2015 “Harmonographic Experimentation” AICAD Symposium, S.F. CA, in collaboration with Seth Augustine
2014 “the Cradle Project” Alter Space, San Francisco, CA
2013 "Green Machines" Chabot Space Center, Oakland CA
2008 “Home Ec” Berkeley Art Center, Berkeley, CA
2003 "For Example" Michael Martin Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2003 "Letterform, Text and Image" Edith Feldenheimer Gallery, Reed College, Portland, OR
Teaching Experience
Sep 2002–Present, California College of the Arts, Faculty
Sep 2010–Present, California College of the Arts, Associate Professor
Theater, Performance and Film
2013 Production Design "The World of Tomorrow" Chabot Space Center, Oakland, CA
2007 Producer, Strip Tease Auction, The LAB, San Francisco, CA
2006 Specialty Props, Love Play, Theatre First, Oakland, CA
2006-2009 Producer, Strip Tease Auction, The LAB, San Francisco, CA
2006 Specialty props, Diamond Daggers Burlesque, San Francisco, CA
2005 Set Design, “Making Noise Quietly” Theatre First, Oakland, CA
2005 Set Design, “Fronteras Americanas” Theatre First, Oakland, CA
2004 Set Design, “A Day in the Death of Joe Egg” Theatre First, Oakland, CA
2004 Set Design, "Mooi St. Moves" Theatre First, Berkeley, CA
2002 Art Direction, “Win Each Way” a film by Jeffrey French, San Rafael CA
2001 Set Design “Uncle Vanya” Subterranean Shakespeare Theatre, Berkley, CA
2000 Production Design “Shop Talk” Directed by Michael Garrigues S.F. CA
2000 Production Design and Special effects make-up, Frolic” Directed by Jennifer Kanter, San Francisco CA
1997 Set design, "Fingered" Smart Mouth Theatre, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, S.F.
1997 Prop Design, "Phaedre's Love" Smart Mouth Theatre, Intersection for the Arts, S.F.
1996 Specialty Props, "Tailings" Smart Mouth Theatre, Intersection for the Arts, S.F.
1991 Production Design "The Bacchae"Big Mess Theatre, Painted Bride Art Center, Philadelphia, PA
1991 Set design "The Maids" Climax Theater, Philadelphia, PA
Museum and Related Experience
2019 Board President, S.F. Cinematheque, S.F. CA
2016 Organizer/Programmer, 8th Individualized Majors Conference, California College of the Arts, S.F. CA
2014 Programmer, In Solution Art, Science, Activism, Water Symposium, MED-I-ATE, S.F. CA
2013-2015 Board Member, Mediate, San Francisco, CA
2011-12 Advisory Board Mediate, San Francisco, CA
2009-2012 Advisory Board, the LAB, San Francisco, CA
2006-09 Board President, the LAB, San Francisco, CA
2005 Board Member/Program Committee Chair, the LAB, San Francisco,CA
2004 Program Coordinator, Visual Aid, San Francisco, CA
1998-2004 Preparator and Conservator, Michos Collection, San Francisco, CA
1994-95 Preparator the Mexican Museum, San Francisco CA
1992-Present Freelance Conservator and Restoration
1992-95 Preparator, Walter and McBean Gallery, The San Francisco Art Institute
1992 Preparator, The Borovsky Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
1991-92 Artist Member and Guest Curator, Nexus Foundation for Today's Art, Phila. PA