My artistic practice primarily focuses on relief, letterpress, and screen printing that includes text and language. By utilizing text both visually and conceptually, I focus on the ways in which language simultaneously serves me and lets me down. I am especially interested in the shared and unique aspects of the human experience, and I consider the ways in which my interpretations of the world are similar, and different, from those of my peers and my loved ones. How am I able to transform feelings into thoughts and thoughts into words? How can I create images that say one thing to me and something completely different to someone else? How can other people’s perspectives inform my own art?
I tend to let text guide my ideas, often sourcing words and then creating imagery based on their implicit or explicit meaning. Phrases from articles, song lyrics, and quotes have all inspired my prints. I have also made work that uses my own words and poetry. Sometimes the words function to connect very specific ideas, and other times, their meaning is left up for interpretation.
I am attracted to the printmaking process because it lends itself to variation and experimentation within a formal structure. There is always room to try something new, and simultaneously, there is always consistency. By creating the multiple, I can theoretically make unlimited copies of prints, which allows for repetition and seriality to play a part in my art. The process lends itself to ideation and exploration, with the experience of making prints often feeling like a conversation between myself and my work. Printmaking offers both the security and the freedom to push myself to the edges of my comfort zone, to find vulnerability in my creations, and to transform feelings into tangible objects.