ARTIST STATEMENT

My work explores and exorcises my life-altering experience that began in 2009 when I learned that I had several benign tumors that were destroying my jawbone. Over three years of surgeries and procedures inspire me to intimately explore beauty, decay and fragility.

I have had a life long passion and obsession for collecting bones, shells and other natural objects. Working with found organic materials allows me the thrill of the hunt, the experience of discovery and the joy of combining and manipulating shapes. My desire is to create something better, something more compelling, by repairing a broken cow femur, reimagining part of an alligator’s vertebrae or combining moose ribs and feathers. Inspired by the new metal plate in my jaw, I add brass screws, metal chain or silk thread to these discarded, decaying animal parts to give them a new life. These objects investigate how beauty is defined through mortality and rejuvenation.

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