Artist Statement

Having grown up in Florida, I have many memories of spending time playing in the sand and collecting shells. The theme of memory manifests in these paintings and the ceramic vessel as accumulated “souvenirs” which are representative of the memories we attach to them. The choice to use empty shells, which often serve as mementos collected over time, is a perfect metaphor for the amassing of experiences that shape each of us and continue to do so till the day we die. Each shell is unique and beautiful, but shells are fundamentally hard, protective outer layers, and are what’s left over from a being that was once living. I repurpose what remains to give these intangible experiences a corporeal form.

My work in Accumulation depicts columnar towers of shells that are representative of inner landscapes. Like fortresses, built brick by brick, we are formed over time by the experiences and surroundings that continuously shape us. In reimagining these objects as emotional vessels, I looked at Dutch Golden Age painter Rachel Ruysch’s still lifes of impossible arrangements of flowers from different blooming seasons, representing themes of impermanence and mortality. Gina Pisto’s hand-built ceramic altars that explore the power objects can hold when humans attach significance to them were also influential.

When arranging these compositions, I stack the shells to create imposing forms, protective of their new inhabitants. They dominate their given space, sitting center stage, like something of significance that is almost monumental. The large scale of the accumulations of shells is intended to feel like towering structures, allowing the viewer to walk amongst them and even picture themselves contained within them. I utilize limited color palettes, wisps of bright light and smoke which places them in psychological dreamlike spaces rather than representational landscapes.  Working to create a set of rules of my own helps to describe what this space looks and feels like when painting. I paint in layers of thin veils, utilizing alternative light sources, and leaving moments of ambiguity that act almost like camouflage. Taking inspiration from the surfaces and shapes of the shells, I use my fingers to add textures and patterns to stoneware clay to create vessels that resemble broken pieces of these natural armors covered in layered glazes to create variation and movement, suggesting age and history.